Empire of the Pacific
by WatsonSword
Summary: If Lilo could go back in time to save her parents, then they could all live as one huge happy ohana. But she would be dead wrong, and the world may pay the price for her naivete
1. The accident

Lilo and Stitch

Empire of the Pacific

By WatsonSword

* * *

The apex of the super-cell was passing over Kauai that very night. It stormed so hard you couldn't see ten feet in front of you, except when a flash of lightning illuminated the scenery for only a split second. 

A winding road built into its winding cliff face was at the center of the storm's pounding. And out of either desperation, or sheer idiocy, someone was driving down that very road.

A beat up old wooden station wagon turned the bend and came into view. Its high beams on and its wipers at full blast.

Inside the car one could barely hear Elvis' _All Shook Up_ playing over the sound of the storm outside.

In the driver's seat was a skinny middle-aged man pretending to be in his twenties. His hair was clearly dyed and spiked up, you could tell just from the bit that stuck out of his sideways black baseball cap with the phrase 'Vietnam Vet' sowed into the front in bright yellow. His typical goldenrod Hawaiian shirt was halfway unbuttoned and a pair of expensive shades hung loosely from the first joined button at the bottom of his chest. Looking further down would reveal he wore frayed jean shorts with an empty buck knife holster strapped to his belt.

The man leaned toward the windshield intently with both hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. This was Eric Pelekai.

In the front passenger's seat sat a middle aged woman who was clearly much more modest. She wore a sleeveless, blue button up shirt and jeans, and had her hair back in a ponytail. More than that there was really not much to say about her.

She stared intently at a book of roadmaps she was pressing against the dashboard. She turned the book on its side and brought her face in for a closer look. This was Keala Pelekai.

In the back seat, with her nose in a gameboy, was a very familiar little girl in a red mumu dotted with yellow flowers.

"I can't see anything in this storm.!" Eric finally spoke up.

Eric lifted one hand off the steering wheel to rub a small gold statue of a fat Elvis sitting in the lotus position as if her were the Buddha.

"Please be watchin' ova' us now." Eric said as he took his hand off the Elvis Buddha and back to the steering wheel.

Eric continued, "How far away's Kokaua again?"

Keala looked up from her book toward Eric. "We should be thea' any minute now." She told him. "We might've already passed it without knowing."

"Damn…" Eric whispered to himself.

He then turned his head back toward the little girl in the back seat.

"Hey Lilo? When we get to Nani's I want you to put away that game and spend as much time as ya' can wit'er. We're not gonna' see her for four yea's when she's in college at Honolulu."

Lilo paused the game and looked up. "But you said we'd spend every summer there so we could."

"LOOK OUT!"

In reaction to Keala's scream, Eric whipped his head around just soon enough to see a downed palm tree a few feet away from the windshield. It was too late to react.

The wagon smashed into the tree just above the level of the windshield. The hood had been scraped right off the car and now lay in pieces on the road. Everything in the front half of the cab from just above the windshield was scrunched up like an accordion. Amazingly, there was almost no damage to the back half.

Lilo slowly came to. Surrounded by blurry double images of people she'd never seen before. She was laying down. She tried to get up but couldn't move. There were canvas straps holding her down and a brace around her neck.

The storm had calmed and the downpour had turned into a light sprinkle.

The minutes passed as Lilo's vision slowly got better. She could now make out the people around her. They were all paramedics. Why was she surrounded by paramedics? Out of the corner of her eye Lilo could make out what looked to be emergency beds covered by bulging sheets. The front half of the sheets were covered in blood, and blood driped down from the beds onto the road. Those weren't just sheets, there were people under them, dead people.

Lilo could finally hear straight, and listened to what two paramedics near the beds ere saying.

"Eric and Keala Pelekai, according to thea' wallets"

"Who's the girl?"

"Thea' daughter I'm guessin'. We still dunno' her name."

"So… gimme' da gory details."

"Well, they crashed into da tree you know already. Just above da windshield. Front half of da cab was totaled. Thea' faces were bashed right in ya know. They both died in less then half a second."

"Mom? … Dad…?" Lilo whispered to herself.

The paramedics continued their conversation. "This really freaks me out I'm gonna go off for a smoke."

Lilo followed as best she could as the paramedic walked by her, over to the edge of the road.

She watched as the paramedic lit up a cigarette and began smoking it. And then a flash of lightning caused him to pause and stare off in the distance.

The flash had illuminated the silhouette of a person on a not too distant ledge overlooking the gruesome scene.

The paramedic dropped the cigarette from his lips and stared at ledge for several more minutes until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He jumped and turned around to find another paramedic looking back at him.

"You okay?" The second paramedic asked.

The first paramedic turned back toward the ledge. "There was someone there. There on that ledge. He was lookin' at us."

Both paramedics turned toward the ledge and looked out for another minute. A flash of lightning once again illuminated the ledge, but this time there was no silhouette.

"There ain't nothin' thea' man." The second paramedic said. "I think this scene's gettin' to ya head."

The paramedics turned around and began to walk back toward the accident when they heard a cry.

"Who was he? What did he do to mom and dad?"

They both turned around and saw Lilo staring up at them with her face bright red.

"Ah crap! She's awake!" Was all Lilo heard as she felt a hot sting on the back of her hand, and the lights went out.

* * *

Lilo woke up to the sound of a buzzing to her left. She lifted herself off of her back and looked to see what could be making it. 

A clock shown the numbers 8:03. She reached her hand over to shut it off, and then turned her head to see where she was.

Lilo was lying on a bed contoured to fit the round walls of the metal dome she made into her room. It had been four years since the accident that killed her parents, and every so often she still had that same dream.

Lilo looked across the room to see Stitch in his own hanging rectangular bed, snoring away and sometimes twitching his leg.

Lilo whispered under her breath, "I bet you could sleep through a lava flow."

All was motionless for just a few seconds until Nani's voice rang out from below.

"Lilo! Stitch! Breakfast!"

Stitch's ear twitched, then Stitch flung up from his sleep and shouted out, "Breakfast?"

In a few minutes, Lilo was dressed, and she and Stitch were riding the dome's elevator downstairs.


	2. Nightmares

**To My Readers:** To those of you who read _The Only Thing Worse Than Dying_, don't expect this story to go places soon. In fact, it won't be until chapter four until something truly significant happens. But once it does, believe me, it will be nothing but action, drama, and mystery from there.

* * *

Lilo briefly jittered in fright as she felt Stitch pick her up and throw her onto the chair at the kitchen table. Just as she landed in her chair, Stitch had hopped up onto his at the opposite end of the table. This was just in time to see Nani spin around with a bowl of oatmeal in each hand and haphazardly drop them on the table in front of the two. A small glass of orange juice was already in front of them. 

Nani spun back and hurried toward the stove where the remainder of the oatmeal was in a rolling boil. She turned off the stove and began whirling the wooden spoon in the pot as fast as possible to keep it from burning.

Stitch picked up his glass of orange juice and dumped it into his oatmeal. After thoroughly stirring it in with his extended claw, he picked up the bowel and dumped the entire contents into his mouth, letting it slide right down his throat without chewing.

Stitch stuck his face in the bowl and swirled his tongue around inside until long after all remnants of oatmeal were gone from the sides. For good measure, Stitch lifted the bowl above his head, closed his eyes and opened his mouth wide. But just before he could drop the bowl into his mouth.

"Ahhh!"

Stitch turned his head to see what was the matter.

Pleakly and Nani were in a tug-o-war struggle with the pot of oatmeal.

"What are you doing in my kitchen?" Pleakly yelled at Nani.

"It's my kitchen! It's my house! And I'm making breakfast in it!" Nani yelled back.

"You're not qualified to make breakfast!"

"Whenever you make breakfast you throw a whole bottle of soy sauce into it!"

"That's because it's good for you!"

"Only in tiny little doses!"

The argument stopped as Pleakly slipped in a towel on the kitchen floor and fell over. The pot was sent flying in one direction and the oatmeal in the other. The both came down onto the kitchen floor not too far from the table.

"Oh great!" Nani shouted, flailing her arms about in the air. "Now how are we going to clean up this mess?"

"Oatmeal!"

Nani and Pleakly turned their heads to see Stitch jumping off the back of the chair and landing in the mess of oatmeal, sucking it up like a vacuum cleaner.

"Well, that's one way." Nani said, folding her arms. "At least this'll be good for a laugh from Lilo. Right?…"

Nani, looking over at her, saw that Lilo hadn't eaten, or noticed anything that had happened. She played with her oatmeal, lifting up a spoonful and then turning it to the side to let it plop back down into the bowl.

"Lilo?" Nani asked. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I'm not hungry." Lilo responded.

Nani walked over to Lilo and put her hand on Lilo's back. "You had that dream again didn't you." She asked.

"There was someone else there." Lilo didn't raise her head as she talked.

"Lilo." Nani said. "You were delirious, you were imagining things."

"The hospital guy said he saw someone on that ledge!"

"Lilo… You were loaded with morphine. You couldn't have heard anything they were saying."

"There was someone there! I know there was!"

"Gaba?"

Stitch, now finished with cleaning up the floor, stood next to the table looking up at Lilo and Nani, his ears held back and clearly concerned.

Nani turned toward Stitch. "Stitch, this isn't the time to be asking questions. I'll tell you later. OK?"

Stitch looked over at Lilo. She still hadn't moved her head or taken a bite of her oatmeal.

"Uh… Okie-taka." Stitch manage to mutter, and then left the kitchen, but not before taking one look back toward Lilo, still playing with her breakfast.

* * *

The sky was solid black despite it being only one in the afternoon. The rain was beating so hard against the windows of Lilo's second grade classroom that she swore they would shatter at any moment. 

Lilo looked to her side to see Stitch in the desk next to her intently listening to what the teacher was saying. Why stitch was sitting at a desk in her elementary school was beyond Lilo, as was why he would be wearing circular, thick-rimmed glasses while he was at it.

More confusing was the fact the Myrle Edmonds and her posse of three little yes-girls were sitting in their respective desks the next row up, and still in their hula outfits no less!

However, the biggest mystery of them all was why Lilo's hulking hula instructor Moses would be teaching her language skills in an elementary school while wearing his traditional grass skirt, and in this kind of whether.

There had to be a logical explanation for all of this. Though Lilo couldn't think of any, there had to be one, so she didn't question the sights around her, and just paid attention to what Moses was saying.

"So, it's been about a week now. Everyone should have two books. One English book to translate to Hawaiian, and one Hawaiian book to translate to English. Would anyone like to be first volunteer to show the class what they brought?"

"I dunno' why we have to do this?" Myrtle sneered at Moses, turning her head and folding her arms.

"Yeeaahh!" her yes-girls followed suit.

Moses sighed and put his hand to his head.

"Because Myrtle," he said, "the best way to preserve one's cultural heritage is to learn its traditional language. We all need to know Hawaiian or else our culture will die off."

"What's so bad about that?" Myrtle continued to scoff at Moses. "I mean it's the twenty first century Moses! You know, the age of globalism? The world doesn't have room for stone age, backwater cultures anymore."

"MYRTLE!" Moses yelled out at he slammed his fist against his desk. After a few seconds he put one had in front of him and the other to his face.

"Myrtle." Moses talked, trying as best he could to keep calm. "If you're not interested in preserving Hawaiian culture than you can go ahead and doodle or somethin'. But there are plenty of otha's in here who are so don't ruin it for them OK?"

"Hmmp." Myrtle scoffed one last time. "Lets go girls. We're going to go off and join the post-modern revolution."

"Yeeaahh!" the yes girls all said in unison as Myrtle left her seat and they all followed her out the door.

Stitch growled at them under his breath as they passed, but they paid him no mind.

"Someday I'm gonna get her." Lilo muttered under her breath as they passed, but they paid her no mind either.

"So, now that that's ova'." Moses said as soon as all four of the girl's had left. "Who wants to be da' first to shere their books."

Lilo immediately turned around and raised her hand as high as she could. When it became too painful to raise it any further, she frantically waved it around in the air.

"Well Lilo." Moses said. "since you seem to be the most enthused about this, you can go first."

Lilo stood up in her seat, books in hand, how they suddenly came to be in her hand was not known, but she didn't care at that point. She walked up to Moses' desk with her eyes closed and a huge grin covering most of her face.

Lilo set the books down on Moses' desk and he picked them up to inspect them.

Moses looked at the first book, a typical children's book with less than twenty pages. "No Malihili Ohana, A family of Strangers. Good choice for your Hawaiian book Lilo, I used to read this when I was a kid.

"Now let's see what you got for your English book" Moses picked up the second, much larger and more ornate and gothic looking book and stared at it confusedly.

"Brahm Stoker's Dracula?"

Lilo nodded her head at Moses, still with her eyes closed and huge grin.

Moses put down the book. "Lilo, this is WAY beyond your level. This is the kind'a thing you'd do for a college thesis."

Lilo opened her eyes and her grin turned into a frown.

"I'm sorry." Moses continued. "But you'll have to find anotha' book."

Lilo lowered her head and grabbed Brahm Stoker's Dracula from Moses' hand. Slowly, she walked back to her desk and sat down.

Moses' and other students continued talking, but Lilo paid no attention to them. Instead she looked out the window.

A flash of lightning through the storm illuminated something in the distance that she couldn't quite make out.

Lilo continued to stare for a few more moments, another flash of lightning reveled, a bit closer than before, a silhouette.

Lilo's eyes widened and her lungs froze. She couldn't move or breathe no matter how badly she wanted to.

Another flash of lightning reveled the silhouette in a dark trench coat and fedora right outside the window.

Suddenly the lights went out. Nothing could be seen or heard, not even the rain made noise anymore. For the longest time all was silent dark, until the voice of a creaky old man called out.

"Lilo!"

"Lilo!" her teacher called out from across the room and she jumped up from her seat behind the desk.

It was the middle of a bright, shining day in Lilo's second grade classroom. Her teacher was a skinny redhead woman clearly from somewhere in southern California. Myrtle and her team of yes-girls was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Stitch. That was because she left him at home to watch TV or something.

"Your poem Lilo?" The teacher asked.

That was right! Today the students were all supposed to bring poems about someone that had some sort of influence in their lives.

Lilo looked down at a wrinkled piece of lined paper with a few poorly scribbles lines in blue ink. She had thought up and written this in less than a minute before class when she realized she didn't have anything.

Lilo grabbed the piece of paper, and hesitantly walked up to the front of class.

All the students stared at her intently.

Lilo cleared her throat, unwrapped the paper and began speaking.

"This poem is dedicated to a woman who influenced my life. I call it, Linda Tripp.  
Ahem…  
Linda Tripp.  
Greasy hag!  
Smells like mayo'!  
Fascist bag!"

The next thing Lilo knew, she was in a cab heading back to her house.


	3. Off to the Past

** Review responses**

**To Tortured Artist: **As I thought of it, Lilo probably was hurt in that accident. I know a sudden halt like that would cause a fair case of whiplash. And I know little children in such accidents are usually sedated to keep them from freaking out.  
Yes, morphine does really make you THAT delirious.  
Victoria's not in this story. Although it has SOME things that were in the series, I'm generally trying to separate the two.

**To A. Nonymous:** Linda Trip was an abhorrently obese woman who was obsessed with sticking her nose into the Monica Lewinsky scandal for the purpose of selling all she found out to various tabloids.  
Thank you SO MUCH for that info. I've been trying to track down their names for god only knows how long, and thus far I've never been able to do it. Thanks again.  
The title of the book is _No Malihili Ohana_. 'A Family of Strangers' is the translation of that phrase. That book was actually an out of context joke because _No Malihili Ohana_ was the second line of the intro song to the series.  
As for the silhouette, you are going to be SOO surprised when you find out what really happened. Though it WON'T be in the next chapter where you discover that.

And if anyone thinks they know, DON'T BLURT IT OUT! Because there are still others who don't.

* * *

The curtains were closed and the room was dark. Jumba preferred working in the dark. He typed busily on his ovalesque laptop, too busily to notice what was going on just downstairs. 

The handle to the front door turned and the door slowly slid open. Stitch turned his head away from the TV to see Lilo standing in the doorway with her head down and no expression on her face. Stitch coked his head to the side. Lilo wasn't supposed to be home from school for another three and a half hours.

Lilo glanced over at Stitch with his ears back and his mouth barely open, and just as quickly looked back down. Lilo stood there for a moment. Stitch crawled to the end of the couch near her to look at her closer. Lilo then turned around and slammed the front door shut as hard as she could with both hands.

Stitch flinched and grit his teeth at the noise. It was loud enough to get the attention of Jumba in his room upstairs, and of someone else in the kitchen.

As Lilo entered the kitchen, Pleakly stopped stirring whatever he had in a pot on the stove to turn his head and track her movement.

Lilo walked right by Pleakly, ignoring what he was cooking, and opened up the pantry next to the stove to grab a can of ravioli. Pleakly continued to follow her with his eye as she opened up a drawer near the fridge and pulled out a fork.

Pleakly had to say something to her. He couldn't figure out what though, and as Lilo reached to doorway to the kitchen, all he could come up with was a happy, "You're home early today!"

Lilo turned her head to look at Pleakly for only a second. She then turned back and continued toward the couch, sitting down next to Stitch. Stitch crawled up to Lilo with his ears down and biting his lower lip.

"Could you open this for me?" Lilo said, handing Stitch her can of ravioli, not turning her head from the TV show as she did.

Sttich took the can in one hand, extended his claw on the other, and carefully sliced off the lid of the can at the rim, and handed it back to Lilo, and then promptly swallowed the lid without chewing.

Stitch and Pleakly continued to look at Lilo as she ate her uncooked raviolis out of the can while watching TV.

It was then that Jumba peaked his head out from the hallway to look at Lilo eating her ravioli and watching TV on the couch. Stitch Looked at Jumba with his ears still down and still biting his lower lip, and then looked back at Lilo, and then back at Jumba, as if trying to tell him that there was something wrong with her.

Jumba came out from behind the wall to the hallway and approached the couch.

"What is being wrong with little girl?" Jumba asked.

Lilo didn't move her head as she responded. "I got sent home today for exercising my right to free speech."

Jumba looked down at Lilo's can of ravioli and raised one fleshy sack above a pair of his eyes.

"That cannot be only thing being wrong." Jumba said. "Little girl would not be ingesting uncooked canned and processed meat stuffed dumplings unless something was truly troubling her."

Lilo sighed and finally looked up at Jumba.

"It's my parents." She said.

Jumba frowned in wonder. "What about them?"

"When they… uh… when they crashed into that tree. There was someone else there. I know there was because I heard the hospital guys talking about someone watching them from the ledge."

"And this mysterious figure is what is upsetting little girl?"

"No!" Lilo yelled at Jumba angrily, and then lowered her head as if to apologize. "It's just that. No one believes me. They all think I was hearing things. But I know he was there! He caused that accident! I don't know how he did it, but he did."

Stitch slowly crawled over to Lilo and nudged her shoulder with his nose. When Lilo turned to look at him, he crawled onto her lap and put his arms around her neck.

"Uhmm… Stitch believes Lilo." He whispered into her ear.

Lilo turned toward Stitch and returned his hug. "I know you believe me Stitch."

No one noticed that Pleakly was now just behind Jumba, who just noticeably jerked as he heard the one-eyed alien interrupt.

"I can totally empathize with you Lilo." Pleakly said. "When I was young, Ihad a pet Zephumese Glassfish, and I even taught it to pull a rope for food! And of course you know Zephomese Glassfish are seventy percent ethyl alcohol, not water, so they have to be kept at a constant temperature of minus eighteen to minus twenty four degrees at all times!

"Well, my brother had it in for me, so you know what he did one night? He turned off the tanks cooling system! When I woke up in the morning, my little trained glassfish had been boiled alive! And nobody believed me when I told them my brother did it!"

Upon finishing his spiel, Pleakly was met with appalling glares from Lilo, Stitch, and Jumba.

Pleakly put one hand behind his head and laughed. "Ooookay… So maybe that wasn't the best example. I… uhh… I'm going back into the kitchen!"

Pleakly scurried off as soon as he was finished. Jumba turned back toward Lilo who was now resting her forehead on Stitch's shoulder.

"Little girl?" Jumba said softly, causing Lilo to look back up at him. "There may be being way for you to be discovering just who or what mysterious figure was at scene of your parents accident."

Stitch cocked his head to the side at Jumba's statement. Lilo narrowed her eyebrows and hung her mouth open just enough to see her teeth.

"How?" Lilo asked.

"Be following me." Jumba said.

* * *

All was dark and silent, but not for long. First, lights lit up around the walls and across the floors in patterns of symbols and walkways. Then, monitors turned on to reveal blue for a few seconds, and then information in graphs waves, reports and numbers all flying by too quickly to register any particular one. 

A solid metal door raised up and disappeared into the roof, and Jumba entered the lab area of his ship, followed closely by Lilo and Stitch.

Jumba walked straight forward toward the end of the lab area, ignoring all of the devices surrounding him. Lilo and Stitch followed more slowly, taking time to look carefully at anything and everything that was even the slightest bit interesting. It was rare that either of them were allowed inside of Jumba's private lab.

Lilo and Stitch finally caught up with Jumba who was now standing at another metal door with several panels on it. Jumba was punching buttons on one panel like mad until it changed from red to blue. Then the panel above him lit up red, and he licked his finger and smeared the saliva on the panel, causing it as well to turn blue.

Many sounds of clangning metal and large locking mechanisms echoed throughout the lab area, making Lilo jump in fright.

The door rose into the ceiling and the light inside turned on automatically to reveal a small circular room with copper colored walls no bigger than a closet.

Jumba stepped to the side, and smiling at Lilo and Stitch, extended his arm toward the small room.

Lilo and stitch looked inside to see only one thing was kept there. And it was a thing they were both very familiar with.

"You're time board!" Lilo shouted. "You rebuilt it!"

"Mega bootifa!" Stitch also shouted.

"I could not be letting such incredible stroke of genius be going to waste. And it would be seeming now that such technology is to be put to good use."

It was sometime later. Lilo, Stitch, and Jumba were all outside, the former of the two both dressed in yellow rainslickers with matching wide-rimmed nor'easter hats. Jumbas time machine attached to a surfboard was standing in front of them with its engines hot, its coordinates entered, and just waiting to be used.

Jumba reached into his bak pocket and puilled out what looked to be a credit card thin two by four inch flat panel TV with screens on both sides.

"This simple digital camera I built is possessing of sixteen thousand by eighteen thousand DPI, and is automatically adjusting to any light conditions." Jumba said as he handed the card-like camera over to Lilo.

"Cool." She whispered to herself, turning the card over and over looking at it from every angle.

"Is indeed very cool!" Jumba continued. "Be pressing blue light to turn on, red light to turn off, and green light to be taking snapshot. Side without crosshairs is picture taking side and must be pointed at target of photograph."

Lilo looked back up at Jumba. "But why do we need it?"

"For to be taking picture of person who caused parents' fatal crash. You can then be bringing camera back to present and using picture for to be tracking down and confronting said person."

"Can't we just stop him from causing that accident?"

"NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

"Well… why not?

"Because! Effects of tampering with natural flow of timestream are being unpredictable. I am being sorry little girl, but you must not be interfering with natural flow of previous events. Are you understanding me little girl."

Lilo's eyes narrowed and began to water. Her fists clenched and she grit her teeth. She was on the verge of screaming some horrible obscenity at Jumba, and Stitch could see it. He was sneaking up behind Lilo and was about to wrap his arms around her face when she suddenly calmed down again.

"Yes." She whispered to Jumba with the slightest of smiles. "I understand."

"Good!" Jumba quickly spat back at her, and handed her the camera.

"Now get on the time board and I will be sending you to place of accident exactly twenty minutes before it took place."

Lilo stuck the camera inside her rain slicker and they both stepped onto the surfboard.

"Be having good luck." Jumba said.

Lilo and Stitch both nodded, and Jumba pressed one button on the surfboard, and it began hovering a few feet in the air.

Jumba gave one last wink as Lilo and Stitch's world disappeared into a bright white light, and they were off.


	4. The Rescue

** Review Responses**

**To Ri2: **Oh, ho, ho, ho. If you only had the first clue just HOW bad an idea this was.

**To nukerjsr:** I said this in my last story, I LIVE on reviews, and I would probably starve to death without them. Keep your reviews coming and make them as detailed as possible.  
BTW, are you the same nukerjsr from the Lilo and Stitch page at If so, I posted a message on 'L&S says mahalo' that's very important to me, and I'd appreciate it if you tried to get the other members to pay attention to it.

**To A. Nonymous:** Like I said in my first fic, everything that I'm going to write I already have planned out in my head. Writing to me is nothing more than filling in the minute details of an already mostly thought out story. As a result, I'm truly sorry to say this, but most suggestions aside from a few lines or a funny action probably won't make it into my stories.  
Also, you should really email me personally with questions that don't directly involve the story your reviewing. My adress is All My Readers and Reviewers: I said this before, and I'll say it again; someone might actually guess correctly who that person is and why he/she is there. I ask you please, hold out on putting your theories in your reviews, because you'll spoil the surprise.  
Also, I must reassert, this IS NOT the chapter where you find out who was looking out toward the scene of the accident that killed Lilo's parents.

* * *

The apex of the super-cell was passing over Kauai that very night. It stormed so hard you couldn't see ten feet in front of you, except when a flash of lightning illuminated the scenery for only a split second. 

A winding road built into its winding cliff face was the center of the storm's pounding. It was so hard to see that one might be amazed that one could make out a bright light emanating from just beneath the cliff face of the churning ocean below.

Beneath that cliff face was a outcropping of flat rock just enough to comfortably hold a van or a small group of people. The light opening up in the side of the cliff looked like a bright window into a place of swirling colors, and a whirlpool of glowing green clouds, brighter than the brightest of floodlights, being sucked into the window.

It the distance through the window, one could make out a small figure heading closer. It was moving too fast to register what it was before it came out into the real world.

The red striped surfboard with the strange engine mounted on the back flew out of the window and crashed into the rocky outcropping, throwing Lilo and Stitch from the impact. The landing summersaulted them across the hard rock three times before they finally stopped.

Lilo found herself lying on her stomach and her hair quickly becoming soaked. She was wearing a nor'easter hat, so that shouldn't be happening. Right? After the sharp pains from the scrapes and bruises of her landing dulled to the point of being tolerable, Lilo opened her eyes to see her head dangling over the edge of the outcropping, staring at her hat drifting in the wind toward the violence of the waters below.

Frantically, Lilo scrambled up to stand, and then fell back onto her butt. She scooted backwards toward the opposite cliff face but found herself wrapped in rubbery yellow arms before she could reach it.

Lilo turned her head to see Stitch in his rain-slicker, and still with his hat. After letting go of Lilo, Stitch took his own hat off and placed it on Lilo's head.

"Gaba Lilo okie-taka?" Stitch asked.

"Yeah." Lilo answered, looking back over the edge of the outcropping, and then back toward Stitch. "I'm fine."

The fur on Stitch's face was thoroughly soaked and water was dripping into his rain-slicker. Under any other conditions Stitch would be squirming and crying in agony at the feeling of being so wet, but this time he managed to put on light smile and a squint for Lilo.

Lilo stood back up and walked over to the edge of the outcropping, and leaned over to look at the ocean. Stitch, seeing this, slowly reached out as if to grab her, even though she was too far away.

Lilo reached into the pocket of her rain-slicker and pulled out what looked to be a credit card. It took a moment for Stitch to realize it was Jumba's digital camera. Lilo held the device close to her face for a few seconds, and then threw it over the outcropping into the ocean.

As Lilo turned around and walked back toward Stitch, he narrowed his eyes and cocked his head in confusion. As Lilo reached Stitch, he spoke up.

"Why Lilo throw away camera?" Stitch asked.

"I'm not taking anyone's picture. I'm gonna stop that guy from killing my parents!"

"But… Jumba says-"

"I don't care what Jumba said!" Lilo screamed at Stitch before he could finish his sentence. She plopped back down onto the ground, her palms on the ground, and began to cry. "I want mom and dad back."

Lilo buried her head in her hands and began to sob away. Stitch tried to approach her, only to be met with a shove as he got too close.

Stitch knew better than to give in to her demands, he's seen first hand what happens when you mess with time, but his emotions got the better of him. He couldn't stand to see Lilo like this.

"Climb onto Stitch's back." He said. "I will save parents."

Lilo lifted her head to look at Stitch. He was relieved to see her smiling at him.

"Thank you Stitch." She whispered, and then walked over to wrap her arms and legs tightly around Stitch's back.

Stitch looked at Lilo with her face pressed against the back of his neck, and then up at the cliff. He placed his hands of the cliff face, and was relieved to find they stuck despite it being so wet, and began to climb.

As Stitch reached to top of the cliff, he swung his right leg over the edge and pulled himself up onto the ground. Walking forward a few steps, he then pried Lilo's hands off of him, and she fell to the ground and quickly got back up again and looked around.

"This is the same ledge that man was on." Lilo whispered just loud enough for Stitch to hear.

Stitch turned his head toward Lilo and then turned it back and looked around to the right. He turned back toward Lilo when he felt her tapping on his shoulder. Lilo was pointing to the left. Stitch turned his head that way to see a large rock jutting up from the ground just a foot away from the road.

"Let's hide behind that rock until he gets here." Lilo said.

"Ih!" Stitch responded, and they both ran and ducked behind the rock so they couldn't be seen from the road.

Stitch blinked his eyes and they were bright red as he opened them. Lilo sat with her back against the rock as Stitch peaked out looking every way hoping to see someone in infrared.

Ten minutes passed. There was nothing but the storm and the lightning.

Fifteen minutes passed, still, there was nothing.

Seventeen minutes. Still nothing.

"I he here yet?" Lilo asked, looking up at Stitch.

Stitch looked down at Lilo with his glowing red eyes. "Naga. No one's here." He said.

Lilo stood up and turned around to look at the road. She couldn't see anything except, off in the distance, a car was pulling around the bend. It was an old beat up looking wooden station wagon.

"He's not here." Lilo whispered to herself in confusion. "And my parents have already showed up."

Just then, a flash of lightning jolted Lilo and Stitch's attention to the opposite side of the road. The sound was defening, and Lilo and Stitch could feel the vibrations in their chests, as the bolt had struck less than a hundred feet from them. The lightning bolt hit a palm tree sticking out of the side of the cliff. The base of the tree was split right open, and with the great creaking one would expect, the tree fell over onto the road.

Lilo couldn't believe what she just saw. Her eyes went wide and her jaw began to quiver. She shook her head hoping that would make what she just saw different, but it was still the same.

"Lightning?" she whispered to herself. "Lightning caused that crash? They were right. No one else was there. I imagined the whole thing."

Lilo looked back toward her parents' car still driving toward the downed palm tree. Stitch was looking back and fourth toward the tree, toward Lilo, and toward the car, whimpering only slightly, his ears back and his mouth just barely open.

"But we can still save them!" Lilo yelled out. "Go save them Stitch!"

Stitch got up and was about to take off down the road when Lilo grabbed hold of his arm. Stitch turned back around to look at her.

"Make sure they don't see you." Lilo said.

"Ih!"

With that, Stitch blinked again, and his eyes returned to their normal black. Lilo let go of his arm, and he shot off down the road so fast that his rain-slicker flew of off him and drifted into the distance.

Inside Lilo's parents' car, one could barely hear Elvis' 'All Shook Up' playing over the sound of the storm outside.

Eric Pelekai leaned toward the windshield intently with both hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

Keala Pelekai stared intently at a book of roadmaps she was pressing against the dashboard. She turned the book on its side and brought her face in for a closer look.

In the back seat, with her nose in a gameboy was Lilo Pelekai in her red mumu dotted with yellow flowers.

"I can't see anything in this storm.!" Eric finally spoke up.

Eric lifted one hand off the steering wheel to rub a small gold statue of Elvis as the Buddha.

"Please be watchin' ova' us now." Eric said as he took his hand off the Elvis Buddha and back to the steering wheel.

Eric continued, "How far away's Kokaua again?"

Keala looked up from her book toward Eric. "We should be thea' any minute now." She told him. "We might've already passed it without knowing."

"Damn…" Eric whispered to himself.

He then turned his head back toward the little girl in the back seat.

"Hey Lilo? When we get to Nani's I want you to put away that game and spend as much time as ya' can wit'er. We're not gonna' see her for four yea's when she's at college at Honolulu."

Everyone in the car suddenly flung forward as their speed dropped down to half in less than a second. The tires squeeled and the car filled with the smelle of burning oil as Eric reflexively slammed on the gas, pushing against whatever was pushing against the car. Lilo's gameboy flew out of her hands and hit Eric in the back of the head, knocking him out. Eric released his hold on the gas and slumped forwad over the steering wheel.

In a split second reaction, Keala flung her hand under the limp Eric and yanked on the emergency break. Already so slowed from whatever had been pushing on it, the car came to a gentle halt.

Eric Pelekai slowly opened his eyes to his car door open, and Keala standing outside over him fanning him with her book of roadmaps. He looked over to the passenger side to see Lilo leaning toward him, both of her hands on his arm.

The storm had calmed and the downpour had turned into a light sprinkle.

"What… just happened?" Eric asked, barely able to get the words out of his winded lungs.

"Come on." Keala told him, unbuckled him from his seat and helped him out of the car.

Lilo crawled over her seat to the driver's side and then hopped out of the car herself, following her parents.

Keala led Eric to the front of the car and pointed at the bumper.

Eric's lower lip hung open and he pulled back the muscles on the sides of his eyes as he looked at the bumper.

Two paw prints were indented into the chrome three inches deep. Lilo ran to Keala's side and looked at the bumber with them.

"Wow!" Lilo exclaimed. "What could've done that?"

"Not just that." Keala answered, and she pointed back toward the road behind the car.

The concrete had been raised from the road in two tracks coinciding with the center of the car.

"Nothing has that kind'a strength." Eric whispered to himself, shaking his head.

"Whatever it was," Keala continued. "I think we owe that thing."

Lilo and Eric looked at Keala, who was looking in front of the car. They both turned to look in front of the car and found a downed palm tree not ten feet in front of them.

"Do you think it was a guardian angel?" Lilo asked.

"Maybe." Eric answered. "I dunno'."

Back on the ledge overlooking what was once a fatal and gruesome accident scene. Lilo barely peaked her head out from behind the rock that obscured her view from her parents and her previous self. She jumped just barely as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Lilo turned around to see Stitch standing just behind her, his paws dirty, and many scratches on his ankles.

Lilo lunged forward and hugged Stitch as hard as she could.

"Thank you." She whispered into his ear.

"Come on Lilo. Let's go home."

Stitch got up and turned around. Lilo once again climbed onto his back and wrapped her arms and legs around him. Slowly and methodically, Stitch climbed back down the cliff to the rocky outcropping that held Jumba's time board.

When he reached the bottom, Lilo got off of Stitch and they both stepped onto the board.

Lilo watched as Stitch frantically punched in coordinates on the touch screen terminal, and then turned a knob looking like a key in an ignition switch.

Stitch turned toward Lilo. As he time board began to float in the air, and the whole world started to vanish in a bright light, Lilo gave Stitch one last thing to ponder.

"I wonder how the world will change now that my parents are still alive."


	5. The World not as it Should be

**Review Responses**

**To Ri2 and A. Nonymous:** The two of you seem to have a gift for stating the obvious. Nonetheless, it does build the tension! Keep 'em coming.

**To nukerjsr:** Well, Jess pretty much blew my comment off. If possible, I would like some support on your end. Even though I know it won't help, it would comfort me for Jess to know that I'm not the only one who feels that way.

* * *

From below the shade of a few palm trees, a familiar bright window into a world of swirling color slowly opened up. It seemed not quite so bright in mid-day, but the sight was still undeniable. The familiar figure in the distance could be seen shooting forward. One only had a slip second to register what it was as it got close enough to make out before the white, red-striped surf board with its engine strapped to the back crashed into the ground, burying its nose over a foot into the dirt, and throwing Lilo and Stitch from the sight of the impact. 

They tumbled on the ground, over and over again before they both finally came to a stop, laying on their stomachs.

Lilo pushed herself up with her palms. After standing up, she looked up almost toward the sun, squinting and shielding her eyes with her hand. It was back, back to the sunny cloudless noon of Kauai in full spring bloom. Everywhere was a rainbow of color, beat down upon by bright sunlight which also sparkled in the few still pools of water. It was a welcome relief from the black storm and the cold rocky cliff.

So glad to be out of that storm, Lilo quickly as possible threw her hat onto the ground and took off her rain-slicker. The rain-slicker didn't seem much help though, as her red mumu was still soaked, not from the rain, but from her own sweat.

Lilo raised and shook her arms to trying to flick off the excess sweat. It was a useless gesture, as out of nowhere her entire body was sprayed with a fine mist of water.

After that was over, Lilo turned to scowl at Stitch who had just shaken himself mostly dry. Stitch was just finishing scratching the inside of his ear when he turned to look at Lilo, now soaked even more than she was previously. He drooped his ears and grinned at her.

"Soka." Stitch muttered, twiddling his index fingers together.

"Let's just go home and dry off." Lilo responded. And then, returning to her normal joyous self, seeming to forget about what Stitch had just done, continued. "After that, we can spend the rest of the day, no, the rest of our lives as one big, happy, unbroken ohana. Just you, me, Nani, Pleakly, Jumba, and mom and dad."

"Ih."

"You'll really like them Stitch. They were some of the most laid back people I know. I don't think I ever remember them yelling, well… at least not because they were angry."

Lilo stared off into space for about a minute more, apparently lost in thought. Stitch finally walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Huh?" Lilo turned around slightly startled.

"Go home?" Stitch reminded her.

"Oh yeah!"

As they began to walk forward, side by side, Stitch stopped and then turned around. After noticing he was no longer walking with her, Lilo to, stopped and turned her head to look back at Stitch.

"What is it?" Lilo asked.

"Time board."

They both looked at the surfboard imbedded in the ground for a few seconds. Lilo then turned back toward Stitch.

"Bright it with us." Lilo said. "We'll leave at the entrance to the driveway for Jumba to pick up."

"Ih!"

Stitch ran back to the time board, yanked it out of the ground, and ran back to Lilo, carrying it above his head, and they slowly walked toward their house.

* * *

At the dirt path leading up to Lilo's house, Stitch leaned the time board up against a palm tree. Lilo and Stitch both took a minute to observe the scenery together. The same trees and bushes were in the same places they remembered them. The dirt path leading up to the house was no different. The surrounding houses also looked the same. In fact, everything looked the same from where they were standing, except one tiny detail. 

"Why does everyone have their blinds closed?" Lilo whispered to herself.

Indeed, all the houses had their blind down and closed. Normally this was not the case, as everyone in Kokaua was care-free enough to always leave their blinds, and sometimes even their windows, open for the whole world to take a peak at what was inside. This didn't make sense.

"Naga nota." Stitch whispered to himself.

After looking at the blocked windows of the other houses for a few more seconds, Lilo shrugged her shoulders. So what if the neighbors had become a little shy? As long as she had her parents back, that was all that mattered.

Lilo and Stitch walked up the dirt path toward their home but stopped and looked at it in confusion just before they reached the first steps. They had suddenly noticed the second change from the world they once knew.

"Our house!" Lilo shouted. "Our house doesn't have Jumba's dome anymore!"

"Ih! Naga dome." Stitch slowly said to himself.

"I wonder if that means… if that means our house never blew up."

As Lilo continued to look at her house, Stitch looked off to the side, toward the driveway beneath the living room where the red buggy and green jeep were always parked. But there was no red buggy. There was no green jeep. Instead, there was a small, dull gray sedan.

Lilo snapped out of her trance as Stitch tugged on her shoulder.

"What is it?" She asked.

Stitch didn't answer, but instead pulled her by the arm to the parking space and pointed to the gray sedan.

Lilo looked at the car in confusion for a few seconds, but then smiled back at Stitch.

"Mom and dad must've gotten a new car since you first showed up."

Lilo then turned back toward the Sedan, and noticed the logo just on the center of the trunk. The logo was a black silhouette of an anvil with a sword stuck inside, clearly a reference to the sword in the stone.

Lilo looked to the right side of the trunk.

"Imperial?" Lilo asked herself. "I don't remember that brand."

Lilo and Stitch looked at each other, and then looked back at the car.

"Well." Lilo said, her hands on her hips. "There's no use worrying about tiny little details, lets just go see mom and Dad."

"Ih!" Stitch said, trying his best to sound enthusiastic. But he wasn't. There were too many strange differences between this world and the one he left behind. Stitch knew there was something seriously wrong, but Lilo didn't pick it up from him, and as he didn't want' to worry her, he neglected to mention anything, and followed Lilo up the stairs to her front door.

"So our house didn't blow up after all!" Lilo exclaimed joyously to no one as she saw the front door.

"Gaba?" Stitch asked Lilo.

Lilo turned to him smiling, her eyes closed and holding up on finger. "This house has the doorbell on the left, just like our old house. But our new house had the doorbell on the right. That means our house never blew up!"

Lilo turned right back around and rang the doorbell on the left. Stitch was not so enthusiastic. Lilo's house was supposed to have blown up. If it didn't something must've gone wrong, seriously wrong.

After a few moments the doorknob slowly turned, and the door opened. Lilo's whole body clenched with excitement at the prospect of seeing her mother or father greeting her at her door. She was finally going to have what every other kid in the neighborhood had, but she didn't. She was finally going to have parents.

But look of sheer joy and exhilaration shattered as she was greeted by a stranger. The woman at the door was clearly Hawaiian, but clearly no one Lilo knew. She was middle aged, with short spiky hair, only slightly fat, and dressed in plain black slacks and a gray button up shirt.

"Whata' you want?" The woman asked in a tone that made it clear she didn't trust the little girl in front of her, or anyone else for that matter.

"Uhh... I'm Lilo Pelekai." Lilo responded. "Is Eric or Keala at home?"

"Never heard of 'em." The woman quickly retorted and began to shut the door.

Lilo, upon seeing this, pushed back until the woman let go and let the door open again.

"This is my home!" Lilo shouted at the woman.

"No its not!" The woman began to shut the door again when she heard a new voice.

"Ih! Lilo's home! Let in!" Stitch yelled at the woman.

The woman froze in position. Her eyes went wide and she pursed her lips together. Slowly and methodically, she looked down toward Lilo, and then off to the side to see Stitch sitting down on the opposite side of the doorbell.

Lilo cocked her head at the woman in confusion, and then looked at Stitch, his head also cocked in confusion.

In a flash the woman dropped to her knees and bent over with her hands and face to the floor. She was crying uncontrollably, barely able to get out her words through her gasps and stutters.

"I didn't!.. I, I, I didn't do anything wr, wrong! Please! Please! Don't hurt… You can have me! I'll go with you! I'll go with you willingly! Just don't, don't hurt, don't hurt my, m, mm, my, don't do anything to my children!"

The woman tried to say more, but couldn't get anything out of her bawling face and stuttered breathing.

Lilo and Stitch backed away from the woman in shock, and then ran down the stairs, past dirt hill that led to their former house and down to the entrance ofo the driveway.

Gasping for breath, Lilo managed to utter the words. "That was not supposed to happen."

"Ih!" Stitch responded, though clearly not tired from the dash.

That was when Stitch looked off to the palm tree where he placed Jumba's time board earlier.

Stitch gasped at what he saw.

"Lilo! Lilo!" Stitch said over and over again as he tugged at the shoulder of Lilo's mumu.

Lilo turned around to face Stitch.

"What is it?" Lilo asked.

"Naga time board! Is gone!"

Lilo looked at the palm tree where Stitch had put Jumba's time board. It indeed was gone, and in its place was a large yellow envelope.

Lilo walked over to the envelope, tore it open, and pulled out a fine letter made from hemp.

Stitch looked over Lilo's shoulder as she read the letter out loud.

"Dear citizen.  
"In accordance with clause two of article five of chapter five of the constitution of the pacific islands, any personal belongings left unattended in public may be confiscated as…" 

Lilo looked up from the letter in shock as she spoke the last line. "As property of the emperor?"


	6. A Stranger in a Familiar Face

**To My Readers and Reviewers:** I must admit I was expecting all of you to instantly figure out what was going on. Some of you did! Though I was surprised when many of you were at the opposite end of the spectrum as far as accuracy is concerned. For the sake of surprise I won't say who among you were right on and who among you don't have a clue. You're just going to have to discover that in the following chapters.  
There was actually supposed to be more in the last chapter but I was kind of rushed. This chapter is really the second half of my original idea of the last chapter.  
Also, this is the most reviews I've ever received on a single chapter, yet I just posted chapter three of _Gems of Tomorrow_ as well and that hasn't gotten a single review so far! That one's good too! Please don't ignore it!

* * *

Lilo lowered her arms and looked forward at nothing in particular. Stitch still looked over her shoulder and down at the letter. Lilo began shaking her head, slowly at fist, but got faster until she dropped the note onto the pavement, dropped to her knees, and covered her ears with her hands. 

"No!" Lilo shouted to herself. "Hawaii doesn't have an emperor! This is not supposed to happen! This shouldn't be happening!"

Stitch pried Lilo's hands off her ears, though as gently as he could, and whispered into her ear. "Not just Hawaii."

Lilo looked up at Stitch on the verge of crying. Stitch walked around Lilo and picked up the letter. He handed it to Lilo and then pointed to part of the text.

_the constitution of the pacific islands_ it read.

"The constitution of the pacific islands." Lilo whispered to herself. She then looked up at Stitch. "Does that mean all the pacific islands?"

"Naga nota." Stitch shook his head as he answered.

The two stood there staring into each other's eyes of a little while longer. Stitch swallowed and looked back at the letter in Lilo's hand again.

"Gotta' find time board." Stitch said, shaking his head at Lilo.

"Then we have to find my parents." Lilo said back.

"Ih!"

Lilo dropped the letter to the ground, grabbed Stitch's hand, and they both began to walk down the street together toward downtown Kokaua.

* * *

From the outskirts of town, one could scarcely tell anything was wrong, but once Lilo and Stitch reached downtown Kokaua, it was clearer than anything they've ever seen before that the world they knew no longer existed. 

The streets, once a bustle with tourists and street vendors looking for the one hidden sucker among them, were now empty. Everything was quiet. The only sound was of leaves rustling in the wind. It was like a ghost town. The only indication of human population was the occasional vehicle parked on the side of the road. There were only two types though, the dull gray sedan, identical to the one beneath Lilo and Stitch's former residence, and a dull gray minivan. All of which had the same _Imperial_ brand name with the sword in anvil logo.

More striking than the absence of people was the presence of the buildings. Nothing remained of the small, quaint looking old stores and offices that once randomly dotted the side of the road. What was there now were plain, white square buildings, all exactly ten stories high, all featureless, all sorted in a perfect grid like pattern. Only the large black signs above the doors gave away what they were meant for.

_Kauai-18-225-Produce Outlet, Kauai-18-226-Offices, Kauai-18-227-Public Services, Kauai-18-228-Storage, Kauai-18-229-Residential Housing, Kauai-18-230-Hardware Outlet._ The names went on.

Lilo and Stitch continued walking down the center of the road, staring in disbelief at their surroundings, Lilo, shaking her head slowly, and Stitch wide eyed and wide jawed.

At last, they came upon a gray plastic bench in front of a building labeled _Kauai-18-134-Loyalty Enforcement_. On the bench was a sticker that read _#-40 To Kauai-19._ Obviously it was some sort of bus stop. Lilo walked up to the bench and sat down, resting her chin in her hands, her elbows on her legs. Stitch soon followed, looking down at his legs now dangling just above the sidewalk.

"This shouldn't have happened." Lilo whispered to herself. "How could this have happened?"

Stitch turned his head to look at Lilo and opened his mouth about to say something, but stopped and turned back.

"We were supposed to have a family." Lilo continued. "But they're missing. And now we have an emperor. And he's turned Hawaii into… into this." Lilo looked up and pointed at downtown Kokaa, now seemingly a monument to sameness. Stitch looked up, not quite following the direction of Lilo's finger.

Lilo put her hands back down to hold up her chin once again. Stitch looked at her.

"Maybe." Stitch said.

Lilo looked at Stitch.

"Maybe, parents know what happened."

Lilo face once again lit up at hearing Stitch's those words. She grabbed Stitch around the waste and squeezed him tightly, bringing out a startled face from her blue friend.

"Mom and Dad! Of course!" Lilo said. "If we can find them, they can tell us what went wrong, and then we can go back in time and fix it!"

Stitch pried Lilo's arms off of himself and looked at her in the eyes.

"Naga time board." Stitch told Lilo. "Is gone. Remember?"

"Oh… right." Lilo whispered. "But still! Mom and Dad can tell us what went wrong. And after we find them, we'll go find this so called emperor of the pacific islands, and get our time board back!"

"Ih!"

"Didn't one of the buildings say public services on it? Maybe we can go there and ask about the Pelekais. It's worth a shot."

"Okey-Taka."

Lilo hopped off the bench and started down the sidewalk with Stitch close behind.

The two stopped in front of one of the plain white buildings they had passed earlier, stood in front of the doorway, and looked up._ Kauai-18-227-Public Services._

Lilo and Stitch looked at each other for only a second and then turned back toward the door of the public services building. Lilo lifted her arm to turn the handle to the door.

Just as she was about to open the door, the ground shook and Lilo was deafened by the sound of a great explosion to her right. The shock caused Lilo to fall down on her butt. Stitch, ignoring the sudden crash, grabbed her protectively.

Lilo turned her to the right. The adjacent building, _offices_, now had part of the front side missing. Smoke billowed from the giant hole where the entrance used to be and debris such as composite beams and sheetrock was flying outward from the damage.

An extremely loud sound like wood cracking rang out and the _offices_ building began to lean toward the road. As it leaned a bit too far, it gave way and the bottom of the front of the building collapsed in on itself.

The building began to fall toward the road. Lilo stared at it in a blank stupor for only a second before curling up and covering her head with her hands. Stitch instantly jumped on top of Lilo, covering her body with his own.

With an incredible crash, the building fell onto the road as a pile of rubble. Nails, sheetrock, pipes and composite beams flew about the place, many of them striking Stich, hard, but the pain was only a slight irritation for a creature like him.

After the debris settled, Stitch helped Lilo to her feet, and she began coughing uncontrollably from the blinding dust.

Stitch blinked his eyes and they opened a bright glowing red.

In infrared Stitch could see the bright orange and yellow silhouettes of five people holding carrying the dark blue images of assault rifles running from the debris and down the road.

Stich lifted up Lilo and place her on his back.

"Hold on tight." He said. Lilo obeyed without hesitation.

Stitch took off down the road on all fours toward the five people who had just destroyed the _offices_ building. Lilo tried desperately to cling to Stitch's back as he dashed so fast.

As they cleared the dust, Stitch blinked his eyes again and they were once again black as he opened them. Seeing in color now, the figures were all dressed in camo cargo pants and army boots, various colored t-shirts. Some of them wore jean jackets. All of them wore ski masks with sunglasses or ski goggles. They all carried m-16s, or at least what looked like them, and had walkie-talkies strapped to their belts.

The five people took a left at the edge of downtown, where the grid of plain white buildings stopped, still not noticing Stitch hot on their tails.

Stitch ran left after them, and seeing them all trying to pile into another of the dull gray minivans in a panicked hurry, stopped suddenly and yelled out at them.

"Poju Kata! Naga!" Stitch screamed at them.

All five people immediately turned around and pointed their guns at Stitch. They looked at Stitch without moving for some time. Stitch looked back at them.

One of the people dropped his gun to the ground and raised his hands. The rest soon followed.

"What's going on back there?" a woman's voice called out from the cab of the van.

The door to the cab opened up and out jumped a woman in the same outfit as the others with her m-16 and jean jacket. The woman ran to the back of the van and raised her gun slightly, about to start yelling at them when she turned her head to see Stitch.

The woman lowered her gun and began to shaker her head.

"626." She whispered to herself. "It's impossible."

It was just then that Lilo, still hiding behind Stitch, poked her head out from behind him to look at what was going on.

The masked woman looked behind Stitch to see Lilo. She then froze, and tensed up.

"Lilo?" She whispered even more quietly before. The others turned their heads to look at her.

Lilo walked out from behind Stitch and did her best to hug him from he side while still looking at the masked woman who was obviously in disbelief.

"This is Stitch." Lilo said. "He's not going to hurt you."

"It's a trick." The masked woman responded. "You're not Lilo."

"Yes I am." Lilo answered back. "And how do you know who I am?"

The woman paused for a minute, and then reachd back behind her head, and pulled off her ski mask, her sunglasses falling to the ground from being pushed by the mask.

Her face was one Lilo recognized instantly, although she now had short hair, and a scar running down her right cheek, Lilo still knew it was her.

"Nani?" Lilo whispered.

Nani pointed her gun to Lilo. Lilo hid a bit further behind Stitch, who growled and extended his hidden arms in reaction. The other five people backed away and all gasped in unison as they saw that. But Nani just stood there with her gun pointed at Lilo.

"Don't you ever call me that!" Nani said.

"Why not?" Lilo asked.

"Because you're not my sister."

Nani looked off into the horizon. Lilo and Stitch turned their heads to look as well. Two large stealth jet black, what looked to be flying boats with flat bottoms flew toward them, but before reaching them, the flying boats stopped in mid air and spun around as they slowly descended into a landing just to the side of the collapsed _offices_ building.

Once the boats landed, doors in their hulls you couldn't previously see slid open to the side allowing six people from each boat to exit and look around the scene of the collapsed building.

The people who exited the building all wore identical suits. They looked like thick, segmented wetsuits with rigid armor plates fused into them at such angles to fit with the muscles of the body, and allow maximum agility for rigid armors. They all wore identical fully enclosed helmets with menacing gas masks. They carried jet black versions of the plasma pistols owned by Jumba and Gantu, but elongated, making them seem more like carbines. These people, surveying the wreckage of the former offices building,

all-in-all looked almost like Star Wars stormtroopers, only everything they wore was jet black.

"The emperor's troops." Nani whispered to herself. "It'll take them less than five minutes to find us."

She turned back toward her squad, still with their hands in the air, some of them on their knees, and barked out like a drill sergeant. "Grab your guns and get moving! And take the girl and the thing with us."

"Have you gone Lolo?" One of them retorted.

Nani pointed her gun at the man. "DO IT!"

The man stood motionless for a few more seconds. Nani clicked off the safety to her rifle. Slowly, the five men lowered their arms, knelt down and picked up their guns. Even more slowly, they walked toward, and surrounded Stich and Lilo, all with their sights on the center of Stitch's head.

"You two are coming with us." One of the men said.

Stitch extended his claws and began to growl. The five men backed away slightly at this gesture, until Lilo pulled on Stitch's arm.

"No Stitch." Lilo said. "Go with them, it'll be alright."

Stitch nodded his head at Lilo, and retracted his extra limbs. The men inched their way toward Stitch and Lilo, who compliantly walked to the back of the van, and sat down inside. The men all got in after them, still with their gun sights on Stitch. One of the men reached out and slammed the back door shut. The van turned on, and then took off down the street, off the road and through the underbrush as fast as its wheels could take it.

Inside the van, Lilo and Stitch were shook about on the bare metal floor as the van sped across dirt trails and over grasses and shrubs. When the van finally stopped, Lilo found herself wrapped in Stitch's arms as he tried to keep her from shaking around too much. After her dizziness passed, Lilo stood up and looked around.

The insides of the van had been completely torn out. Only the bare metal remained of what was once there. Crude seats made from crates and dirty pillows were roped and duct taped to the walls of the van. Near the cab were a few overly used carboard boxes each labeled only with a number. All the boxes were duct taped shut except one. Lilo slowly walked toward the box and lifted up one of the flaps. She gasps and fell backwards onto her butt at what she saw. Rifle clips, pistol clips, and hand grenades were all messily piled inside.

Stitch was there with his hands on Lilo's shoulders as soon as she hit the floor. She leaned back against his chest, and then looked toward the cab.

Out of the drivers side window Lilo could see Nani and a small patch of grassy ground. Nani was looking across the distance with a pair of binoculars to her eyes in one hand, and her assault rifle hanging at her side in the other. Lilo turned toward the other men in the van, and Stitch turned his head with her.

The men were all pressed against the back of the van with their guns set on Stitch. Their hands were shaking, rattling the guns as they tried to keep their aim steady.

"It's okay." Lilo whispered to them. "Stitch isn't going to hurt you."

"Naga hurt." Stitch added, shaking his head.

"Ahhhh!" one of them men screamed out like a little girl, dropped his rifle to the floor and put his hands in the air in reaction to Stitch's comment. The other four turned their heads to look at him. After looking back at them, he picked his rifle back up and again pointed at Stitch.

Stitch lowered his head and drooped his ears.

Lilo and Stitch turned around at the sound of the driver's door opening up. Nani sat down at the drivers seat and sighed heavily.

"They're not following us." Nani said without moving.

Nani turned back to look at her new captives. Lilo sat on the floor staring at her, slowly shaking her head and on the edge of crying. Stitch stood above her with his arms wrapped around her neck and repeatedly making 'Shh' sounds into her ear.

Seeing Stitch's protective affection for Lilo, Nani sneered and clenched her fists so hard one would think they'd start bleeding at any moment in a desperate attempt to control a building wave of rage.

Stitched looked up at Nani. His ears drooped down and his face saddened by the way she glared at him.

Nani finally calmed down, and turned forward in her seat again. After messing with a few, what must've been knobs just out of the sight of Lilo, she picked up the phone to a radio, pressed the side button, and spoke into it.

"Nani to Sam, mission successful. Do you copy?" Nani spoke into the radio phone.

A voice answered back. A very deep and imposing voice. Lilo and Stitch both found that voice familiar, but with the poor quality of the radio, couldn't make out who it was exactly.

"I copy. Good work Nani." The voice said. "Anything else to report."

"Yes sir." Nani answered. "626 is playing head games with us."

"What kind of head games?"

"After completing the mission, we ran into this thing that looks just like him."

Nani turned around to look at Lilo for just a second before turning back.

"And another thing that looks like my sister."

"But I am your sister!" Lilo shouted out.

Reacting almost on reflex, Nani pulled out a pistol from her belt and whipped her body around to point it right between Lilo's eyes.

"Don't you ever say that again!" Nani screamed at Lilo.

Stitch, also reacting almost on reflex, flipped over Lilo, landing on his feet in front of her, baring his teeth and claws at Nani.

"Naga hurt Lilo!" Stitch shouted out.

"Ahhh!" Nani screamed once again as she dropped her pistol, and just as quickly reached down to grab it again.

"Ahhh!" The same man as before once again screamed, and once again dropped his rifle and stuck his hands in the air.

All was motionless and silent, except for the deep voice on the radio.

"Could you repeat that? I thought you just said you found something that looks like 62-"

The radio clicked off as Nani reached over and flicked, something.

"I want that thing bound and gagged." Nani whispered, her breath stuttered and voice filled with what had to either be fear, or anger, if not both.

"That's not gonna hold him!" One of the other men retorted.

"Did you hear me!" Nani yelled out, pointing her pistol at the head of the man who had the audacity to question her.

"Yes m'am." He whispered, and pulled a dingy, white twine rope from the back seat.

About to wrap his rope around Stitch, Stitch inched back. The man inched back in reaction.

"Umm. If you would please let me…" He asked Stitch.

Nani dropped her head into her hand at hearing this.

"Naga!" Stitch shouted back, but Lilo put her hand on his head and whispered into his ear.

"Do what they say Stitch."

Stitch lowered his head and drooped his ears. "Okey-Taka. Tie Stitch up."

The man, hesitating many times, began to wrap his rope around Stitch, who no longer struggled at that point.

The van turned back on and began to drive away.


	7. The Name of the Emperor

**Review Responses**

To: A. Nonymous: I'm quite aware of the concept of dystopias, I read both 1984 and brave new world. I went for that feeling on purpose, although I also went for the feeling of communist USSR under Stalin.  
As for how they knew about 626, I'll tell you in this chapter.

To nukrjsr: Emperors? I don't know where you got that idea. But whatever you might be thinking, the emperor's identity will be revealed in this chapter.

To All My Readers and Reviewers: Like I said above, many things will be revealed in this chapter, some you asked about, and others you didn't; and yes, the identity of the emperor is one of them.  
BTW, if the next chapter of Gems of Tomorrow doesn't get a decent number of reviews, then I'm just going to quit writing it and let it die off. So if you want me to continue that story, start reviewing it.  
Last note, can any of you spot the joke in Cobra Bubbles' real name?

* * *

The sound of a lock opening echoed throughout the now thought to be abandoned warehouse that once held the restocking supply of groceries for the surrounding towns. It was thought to be abandoned, but it really served as the makeshift home for a group of a few hundred dirty strangers in dirty clothes, all with their own rifles, handguns and a ready supply of ammo hanging loosely from their belts, jackets, etc. 

As the sound of the opening lock was heard, everyone in the immediate area stopped what they were doing. Some knelt down pointing their rifles at the manual garage door serving as an entrance to the warehouse, while others hid behind furniture, shelves, walls, boxes, or anything else that might provide some cover. This was all done however, in a slow, methodical, and perfectly ordered fashion, as if they do this every day.

The garage door opened one foot, squealing like a rake dragged across a chalk board as it did. One of the men walked forward, holding the handle to a shovel, with the shovel itself removed. In its place was a small digital camera duct taped to the end of the stick, and a piece of rope wrapped in a strange way around what looked like part taken off a fishing rod attached to the camera itself.

The man walked over to the garage door, stick in one hand, rope in the other. He poked the camera out of the one foot opening in the garage door and leaned the stick back so it would angle itself upward. He then pulled the rope and a click was heard.

Pulling the stick back into the warehouse, he flipped it over and looked at the image on the LCD screen. It was Nani, looking down at the camera, with some blurry bluish image one could barely see in the bottom left corner.

"Come on in." The man called out.

The garage door lifted slowly up another six feet until there was ample head room for Nani and the four others in her squad to pass under.

At this point all the others in the warehouse began to lower their weapons and come out of the woodwork to look at what Nani had brought back with her.

Something that looked like 626, and something else that looked like Nani's sister. By now they had all heard the recording of that message, but most of them didn't believe it.

Nani walked into the warehouse and continued straight forward as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Following closely behind was Lilo with her wrists bound in telephone wire, and Stitch, his arms tied to his sides with white twine rope and his face in a makeshift muzzle build from three leather belts bond together with duct tape. Stitch could brake these restraints almost without trying of course, but he tolerated them, however indignant they seemed, because Lilo told him to. She told him that she could make them understand that he's their friend, and is here to help them, but seeing the faces of the people he walked by, Stitch severely doubted that.

Stitch only had enough time to glance at each of the faces as he walked by them. They all glared at him in different ways, none of them being particularly comforting. Some looked at him with the most intense of hatred. Some stared wide eyed with fear as if they were looking into the face of death itself. Still others looked at Stitch in confusion. Something that looked like 626, obviously implying that it wasn't. None of them seemed to understand just what was going on, but seeing the very image of Stitch, or as they knew him, 626, made them dare not interfere.

Soon, Nani turned into a makeshift hallway made of plastic and metal bookcases. Arranged on them messily, yet orderly, were guns and ammo, camo jackets and pants of all different sizes, first aid kits, pieces of radios, pieces of car and van engines, jugs of chemicals with hand written notes taped to them describing recipes for tear gasses, nerve gasses, incendiaries, explosives, and cauterizes. The last section of the shelves before a plain wooden door with what had to have been a torn off plastic sign held hundreds of MREs -Meals Ready to Eat- in their plastic pouches.

A guard stood by the door, staring at Stitch with his eyebrow raised, both his hands tightly gripping two pistols shoved into either side of his pants.

"Take the blue thing to the holding area and keep him there until I get back to you." Nani told the man in a most nonchalant manner.

"But..." He tried to argue back, but Nani wouldn't let him speak.

"He will cooperate with you."

"Are you sure?"

Nani looked down at Lilo and scowled at her.

Lilo, never taking her eyes off Nani, leaned over and whispered in Stitch's ear.

"Do what they say Stitch."

Stitch whimpered as he lowered his head and drooped his ears.

"Yes I'm sure." Nani said as she turned back to the guard.

The guard pulled out one of his pistols and pointed it toward Stitch.

"Just come with me, and I won't hurt you." He told Stitch.

None of it could've possibly been true of course. He couldn't hurt Stitch anyway, not with such a primitive weapon as a 9mm semi-automatic. But Lilo told Stitch to cooperate, and she told him that she could get them to treat him like a friend. Stitch doubted she would be able to do this, but if he tried anything now, he would only make things more dangerous for her. Stitch whimpered once again as he began walking away, just in front of the guard who still had his gun set on him.

Stitch paused for a moment to look back at Lilo. She was looking at him. And then he continued.

"Come inside." Nani told Lilo, not looking at her.

Nani opened the door, and Lilo followed her into a plain square room with a hanging ceiling lamp, a buffet table with a large metal box on it, and two dingy looking desk chairs on either side of it.

Nani motioned for Lilo to sit in the far chair and she obeyed. Nani pulled out and flipped open a switch knife, and began walking toward Lilo.

Lilo pressed herself harder against the back of the office chair and tried to shield her face with her bound hands. Nani simply grabbed the telephone wire binding and dragged her forward, and thrust her knife at Lilo.

Snap, and Lilo opened her eyes to see that she had not been stabbed or cut after all. Nani had cut the phone wire binding her hands together and the two halves dropped to the floor.

As Nani flipped her knife closed again and stuck it back in her pocket, Lilo stared at her intently as she rubbed her wrists. The phone wire had made bright red indentations in her skin.

Nani calmly walked back to the other side of the table and sat down. She opened the metal box and took out about a dozen empty syringes. Lilo pressed herself harder against the back of the chair again on seeing Nani's actions. Nani unscrewed the needles from their vials, and put the vials back in the box. The next thing Nani took out of the box was a pair of jumper cables, with large clamps on one end, and tiny clamps on the other. The last thing she took out of the box was a fresh looking car battery.

Nani looked up at Lilo. Lilo had now pushed her chair against the back wall and had her arms sprawled out to her sides, and breathing rapidly. Nani's expression didn't change even so much as a twitch as she looked at Lilo's fear.

"Now that the thing is safely out'a the way, I can conduct a proper interrogation." Nani said in a frighteningly calm and comforting voice.

"What are those things?" Lilo asked in a whisper.

"These are needles. People stick you with 'em and they cause a mildly unpleasant stinging sensation. Hardly an effective tool for interrogation. But hook the needles up to a car battery and you got a much different story."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Lilo pleaded as she started crying.

Nani ignored Lilo's cries, and her question. "Now we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the way that involves stabbing you in very personal areas with electrified needles."

Lilo hugged her knees and buried her face in her legs, now crying rampantly.

Nani still didn't even so much as flinch in reaction.

"First question." Nani spoke up. "Who are you?"

Lilo lifted up her head, still crying, so she could answer. "I'm Lilo! I'm your sister!"

"Spare me kid, would ya'? It's absolutely impossible for you to be Lilo."

"Why?"

"Because Lilo's dead."

Lilo looked up at Nani in shock. Her tears stopped flowing but her mouth hung open and her eyes still suffered from intolerable fear.

She was dead? Or at least the Lilo that was supposed be there, the Lilo that grew up in this time, the Lilo that was supposed to have a mother and father. She was dead. _How? _She wondered. The only answer that would come to her is that the emperor killed her, whoever that may be.

"So once again," Nani asked. "Who are you?"

"I'm your sister! I told you!" Lilo yelled back at her. "I'm just... not the one you know that's all."

"Not the one I know?"

Lilo nodded her head. "It was mom and dad."

"What about them?"

Lilo paused before talking. "They died... so I went back in time to save them... but when I got back here... the world changed into this."

"Went back in time to save Eric and Keala?"

Lilo nodded her head.

"Well you certainly did bang up job."

"Huh?" Lilo cocked her head to the side.

"Nothing. Let's just get back to business. I want the truth kid. Who are you?"

"I already told you! I went back in time with a machine that Jumba built-"

"Jumba?" Nani interrupted. "You mean... Dr. Jookiba?"

"Yeah!"

"This story's getting more and more campy by the minute."

"What do you know about the emperor?" Lilo whispered just loud enough for Nani to hear.

"You're kidding right? You really think I would tell you what we know about the emperor?"

Nani paused and rested her face in her hand for a few seconds. After bringing it back up, she grabbed a needle in hand and held it up, poised to strike at Lilo.

"You know what I think you are?" Nani asked rhetorically.

Lilo shook her head.

"I think your some kid the emperor plucked off the streets and barbied up to look like my sister so he could send you here to confuse us. And while we're trying to figure out you and your little pet, he would strike without warning!"

Lilo again shook her head.

"So... we did this your way, and now we're gonna' do it mine. Take off your shirt kid."

"No!"

"One way or another, this thing's gonna' go into a very, very disagreeable place unless you tell me what I want to know."

"You will do no such thing Nani."

Nani and Lilo both turned around to find that the door to the room was open and a familiar figure was looming in the doorway with his arms crossed.

It was Cobra Bubbles. Only, he was different. He had no shades, he had no suit. Instead he was dressed in the same camo pants and shirt and jean jacket as the rest of inhabitants of the old warehouse. He had hair, long hair, though messy and unkempt, and a clearly ungroomed beard. Cobra was adorned with more weapons than anyone else in the facility. An m4-carbine was slung around his back in one direction, and a painted black sporting rifle slung around his back in the other. Two pistols were stuffed into either of his pockets, and he wore two bandoleers. One hanging with m4 clips, the other with hand grenades. And each of the bandoleers had a stained black bowie knife stuffed beneath it, pressed against his shoulders.

"Sam this isn't your concern." Nani told him.

"Sam?" Asked Lilo.

"Sam Winnfield is my name." Cobra, or rather, Sam responded.

"But aren't you Cobra Bubbles?" Lilo asked again

Sam dropped his arms to his sides and stared at Lilo with one eye raised.

"How do you know that name?" Sam asked.

"You were my social worker, remember?"

Sam lowered his head and looked off to the side in reaction to Lilo's comment.

"I was a social worker." He answered. "That was before the emperor."

"Who's the emperor!" Lilo yelled out at him.

"You're not really gonna' tell her what you know are you?" Nani yelled as well.

Sam just nodded his head at Nani and looked back to Lilo.

"We don't know much about him." Sam began to lecture. "He's some kind of alien. He crashed here in Hawaii about two and a half years ago, apparently on accident, but he made the most of it by forcefully taking over the pacific islands."

"How many?" Lilo asked again.

"Everything from the Hawaii to Fiji. Everything from Palau to French Polynesia. But of course none of them are called that anymore. They're all now called the Empire of the Pacific.  
"Now he's set his sights on Malaysia and the Philippines, and it's looking like they won't stand a chance against him."

"But... Who is the emperor? What's his name?"

"We don't know his name. Most of us think he doesn't even have a name. He just calls himself, number 6-2-6."

Number 6-2-6! Stitch! Stitch was the emperor! But how? Lilo couldn't get it through her head. It was too much for her to take. Lilo sat there trying to ponder Stitch as an evil emperor, but she couldn't, nor could she understand how any events could lead to such a circumstance. Lilo sat motionless in utter shock and disbelief at what she heard.

Sam and Nani looked at her for a few seconds. It looked as if she had gone catatonic. But they took advantage of the situation to finish their conversation with each other.

"Put away the interrogation tools, I'm taking over the management of our new guests from now on Nani." Sam told her.

"What?" She stood up to scream back at him so fast that she knocked her chair over. "You can't do that!"

"I can, and I will." Was all Sam said as he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

"You don't know what you're doing Sam!" Nani continued to scream through the door. "You've lost it this time! You've gone totally lolo!"


	8. A Small Kindness Before the Flames

**Review Responses**

**To An. Nonymous:** Reviews are for critiquing an author's writing ability, not for making idle chat. I've asked you this before and I'll ask you again. Please keep your reviews on topic. Anything you have to say to me that does not involve critiquing my writing ability or my story should be emailed to me personally at _watsonsword at yahoo dot com_ (they won't let me post actual email adresses here.)  
I removed your last two off topic reviews just to drive the point home further.  
Don't take this the wrong way, you're one of my most loyal fans and I truly appreciate it, but no one likes being spammed.

**To Ri2:** I was really surprised that you were the only one who actually guessed correctly who the emperor was. Although, something you pointed out along with another reviewer has forced me to come up with some impromptu changes to the story.

**To Baal 626:** What you and Ri2 pointed out about Stitch's personality has forced me to rethink what happened after Stitch crashed on Earth. I've added one extra piece to the story, which will be revealed later on. Fortunately, what I already added did not at all interfere with what I already had, so the story is going to progress as it would've otherwise, just with this added piece.

**To All My Readers and Reviewers:** The joke with Cobra's real name is that it was a reference to Samuel L. Jackson's character in Pulp Fiction. Sam being the actor's first name, and Winnfield being the character's last name.  
However, his name was originally Sam Vincent, but I got my Pulp Fiction facts mixed up and had to correct that.

* * *

Little could be heard in the dark room. Dripping water in the distance, the occasional squeak of a mouse, the whooshing of the air ducts, but most of all, Stitch could hear his own breath. He didn't bother to focus in on whatever sounds may be beyond the room he was kept in, nor did he bother to change his vision to see in the darkness. There was no need for any of it, not here and now anyway. This was not the time to be doing anything. Even though Stitch was bored to tears, and worried about Lilo until it hurt, anything he could do other than nothing would only make it worse. 

Stitch was about to give in and break free of his bindings and charge out the door. Not a moment too late, Stitch heard the deep click of the lock to his room's steel door turning, and a sliver of light passed right across his eyes. Stitch blinked, and like that his eyes had adjusted to their new surroundings. The sliver of light slowly got wider until Stitch knew the entire door had opened, and at last turned his head to see who had done it.

Two shadowy figures loomed in the doorway. Stitch's attention was immediately drawn to the large one. Cobra Bubbles? With hair? And sporting a commando getup? A moment's confusion was forgotten when smaller figure began running toward him.

"Stitch!"

There was no mistaking that voice.

Stitch effortlessly pushed his arms out to the side, snapping the ropes that bound him, reached his hand up to his face and tore off his makeshift muzzle and threw it on the ground, all in just enough time to wrap his arms around Lilo as she came crashing into him.

"This isn't right." Lilo cried into Stitch's ear. "Nani's changed. She's not Nani anymore. She was going to stab me electrified needles."

"Don't talk." Stitch whispered into Lilo ear.

Stitch continued to hold Lilo and press her head into his shoulder until her breathing stopped its stutter. With Lilo safely and comfortably in Stitch's grasp, he could now turn his attention to more curious matters.

Stitch lifted his head up to see the jungle commando Cobra Bubbles standing above him with the most puzzled of expressions on his face.

"Why does the little girl call you Stitch?" Sam asked.

Lilo lifted her head from Sitch's shoulder and pushed away slightly. Stitch got the message and released his grip on her. Lilo turned around to face Sam. She raised her hand and opened her mouth about to answer when she felt a furry arm wrap around her head and press its extended forefinger against her lips. Lilo paused and blinked for only a moment. When Lilo turned around she saw Stitch shaking his head at her. Stitch then walked up in front of Lilo to answer the question himself.

"Stitch is my name." Stitch said. He looked back at Lilo for a second and then turned back toward Sam. "Lilo gave it to me. It is much better than being called a number."

Sam narrowed his eyes and then raised one eyebrow, not flinching another muscle in his body. This gesture was not particularly comforting to Stitch, and even less so to Lilo, who took one step backward upon seeing it.

"The emperor would disagree with you." Sam responded.

"Well Stitch isn't the emperor!" Lilo shouted suddenly, charging up in front of Stitch.

"Stitch naga emperor. Stitch good!" Stitch added in, shaking his head.

"I'm not entirely sure at this point whether or not I believe you." Sam responded.

"But it's true!" Lilo pleaded.

Sam looked at Lilo with a totally vacant face. Looking into his expression made Lilo tense her muscles and grit her teeth. She slowly inched back from Sam until she felt herself pressing against Stich, who responded by placing his arms on her shoulders. This succeeded in relaxing Lilo only a bit.

The three of them continued like this for some time. Not one moving a muscle. At last it was Sam who broke the silence.

"Follow me." He said, and turned around to walk out the door.

"Where?" Lilo asked.

"To get you two something to eat. You look hungry."

* * *

The door opened to a large, unkempt rectangular room. Dispite its size, there wasn't much there. There was a circular table in the center with four folding metal chairs, another rectangular buffet table in the corner was cluttered with papers, pens, a few radios, and an open tool chest. There were cheep metal cupboards lining the right wall and an old dirty refrigerator on the left just to the side of an industrial steel sink. 

Sam walked into the room and took a sharp turn left toward the refrigerator. Lilo and Stitch followed him into the room cautiously. Stitch looked at Lilo. Lilo motioned toward the circular table in the center of the room with her hand and they both proceeded to the table and sat down at opposite ends, looking at each other.

Both of them jerked their heads up in surprise as two square packets wrapped in dark green plastic and stamped with various serial numbers landed on the table in front of them.

After tossing down the packets, Sam placed a Styrofoam cup of water in the center of the table, and then pulled out one of his stained black bowie knives and set it down next to the cup.

Lilo and Stitch looked down at the packets and then back up at Sam.

"What are they?" Lilo asked.

"M-R-Es." Sam answered.

Lilo continued to look at Sam, blinking occasionally.

"Meals ready to eat." Sam continued. You can use the knife to cut it open.

Lilo reached over and picked up the bowie knife. She held it close to her eyes to see the grain of the stained surface of the blade, like ultra-fine sandpaper.

"Nani always told me not to play with big knives." Lilo said, turning her head back to Sam, who was now sitting in the chair adjacent to her with his arms folded.

"Nani's not here." Sam whispered immediately, as if he anticipated the question.

"True."

Lilo reached over and picked up an MRE. After bringing it over to her, she held it down on the table with one hand and carefully used to bowie knife in the other to cut the plastic wrapping off the top. She proceeded then to dump the entire contents onto the table, which consisted of more items wrapped in plastic.

Stitch followed suit, carefully watching Lilo's example, but used his extended claw to cut the plastic from the MRE package.

Lilo looked at Sam once again, who nodded at her. Lilo took the bowie knife again and used it to cut the plastic off one of the larger items. Inside was a large cracker that seemed as dense as lead. Searching for something to make a cracker seem more edible, she came across a tube, like a very small tube of toothpaste, marked _'cheese spread'_. Lilo opened the tube and thoroughly coated her cracker before starting to eat it. It wasn't very good, but it was filling, and at this point, that's all Lilo wanted.

Lilo looked over the table momentarily to see Stitch squeezing his own cheese spread straight into his mouth, and then eating the tube once it was empty. Under normal circumstances this would've made Lilo laugh, but these were hardly normal circumstances.

Lilo sighed. Stitch stopped his gorging in reaction and looked over at her.

Lilo turned toward Sam, still in the same position he started in.

"Why did Nani become so mean?" Lilo asked softly.

Sam turned his head to the side and sneered. He then signed and turned back toward Lilo.

"Nani lost allot of people who were very close to her." Sam said just loudly enough to be heard. "And all of them in very bad ways."

Lilo looked back down at her MRE, most of the packages still unopened. "That would do it." She whispered to herself.

Lilo focused on the biggest package in front of her, a cardboard box. She opened it up and pulled out two more packages. One was just a plastic envelope filled with what looked to be a cross between a teabag and bubble wrap, the other was another plastic bag sealing something soft inside. Lilo looked at the bag carefully.

"Beef stew." She whispered to herself, and then turned toward Sam. "How do you cook this?"

Sam leaned over and picked up the cup of water in the center of the table and demonstrated how to cook an MRE using Lilo's meal. "The packets in this plastic envelope are filled with a chemical that reacts to water. You pour just a little bit inside, and it will boil in seconds. You then stick the envelope, and the packaged meal back into their box, and it heats up in a few minutes."

Stitch followed Sam's example, and they both were soon looking at small cardboard boxes with steam shooting out of them. While Lilo and Stitch were waiting for their meals to heat up, Sam finally decided this was the perfect time to begin questioning them.

"I want you two to tell me where you came from, and how you got here." Sam asked calmly.

Lilo turned toward Sam so fast that her chair slipped and she toppled over onto the ground. Too frightened by Sam's words to be even the lightest bit surprised by her spill, she scooted back away from Sam.

Stitch gasped at the sight, and jumped down from his chair to rush over and grab hold of Lilo. With Lilo safely in his arms, Stitch turned his attention to Sam and growled at him, baring his teeth. He didn't know what danger if any was there, but as Sam's question had clearly frightened Lilo, he felt he had to.

Sam stood up from his chair and raised his arms out in front of him.

"I'm not going to hurt you little girl." Sam said as reassuringly as he could. "And even if I tried, I wouldn't get very far since he's with you."

Stitch stopped growling, blinked and then sneered at Sam before turning his head down to look at Lilo.

Lilo's breathing was fast and shallow. She was looking in front of her at nothing I particular, obviously trying to get over the shock that Sam's question had imposed on her.

Stitch put one hand on Lilo's head and whispered into her ear. "It is OK. Stitch not let Sam hurt Lilo."

Stitch lifted Lilo up to her feet by her shoulders and guided her to her chair, now flat on the ground. After unfolding it and setting it back up, Stitch took Lilo by the hand and sat her down, afterwards putting himself between Lilo and Sam.

Sam sat down as well.

"So," Sam asked. "start from the beginning, and work your way up from there. I want to know everything, how you met Stitch, and what led you here."

Lilo turned toward Stitch. Stitch nodded at her.

Lilo lowered her head and sighed.

Lifting it back up again she finally began to speak.

"It was my parents. They uh… they died… in a car accident, a long time ago. Nani was." Lilo stopped in mid sentence and her breath started becoming erratic.

Stitch looked up at her and whimpered quietly to himself. He then climbed up onto the chair and sat down on Lilo's lap. Putting his arms on her shoulders and resting his forehead against hers, he whispered to her, "Keep going."

After hesitating many seconds, Lilo pushed Stitch's head out of the way and continued. "Nani was… because I was so lonely without them, she took me to the pound to get a dog. That's where I met Stitch. The people who hit him with their truck thought he was a dog and took him there.

"Stitch was… he was bad at first, but I taught him how to be good. I taught him how to love… Oh my god."

Lilo turned back toward Stitch, her eyes began to water and grit her teeth. Stitch was at a loss for words. All he could do was stay still and look back at her. Lilo finally broke and buried her head in Stitch's chest, crying violently.

"It's all my fault!" Lilo could barely get out her words through her crying. "I was never lonely with mom and dad! I was never taken to the pound! I never met you! I never taught you to be good! That's why!…"

Lilo could say nothing more, only cry into Stitch's chest as he tried his hardest to comfort her in his grip, which didn't seem to be working. Stitch looked up at Sam as if pleading for help, but he knew it would be of no use.

Sam looked at Lilo and Stitch with one eyebrow raised. "That's why he's the emperor?" For a moment, Sam buried his face in his hand, and then raised it again to look back at Lilo and Stitch. "I still don't understand the story, but it seems the little girl is in no condition to finish it."

Stitch looked down at Lilo, and then back up at Sam. "Stitch finish story."

Sam's face lifted up and both eyebrows raised in reaction.

"It was Jumba." Stitch continued. "Dr. Jookiba. Jumba build time machine for Stitch and Lilo to go and save parents."

Sam closed his eyes and breathed heavily. "So the reason the emperor is here today is because Nani's parents survived a car accident years ago?"

"Ih!"

Sam mumbled something to himself before opening his eyes, the only discernable part being_ 'moot point'_. Stitch cocked his head to the side and was about to say something when…

"Ahem!"

Lilo, Stitch, and Sam all looked up toward the doorway to find Nani leaned against the wall with her arms folded.

"How long have you been standing there?" Sam asked.

"Long enough to hear the whole story." Nani answered. "And I still think it's a load a' crap."

"I told you already Nani, I've made my decision and it's final."

"Keno Hirasawa was just captured."

Sam's eyes widened as he stood up. He then turned his head to the side and clenched all the muscles in his face.

Sam brought his fist down on the table so hard he cracked it in two, sending what was left of Lilo and Stitch's MREs flying in all directions. Lilo hid her face in Stitch's chest momentarily and then brought it back out to look at Sam, who was now as cool and collected as ever.

"Who's Keno Hirasawa?" Lilo asked.

Sam closed his eyes again and breathed heavily before answering. "He was our contact with our sect at Marshall Islands. Now we've been cut off. We're being fractioned as we speak."

Lilo blinked at Sam. "But how would they know where to find him?"

"Because someone in our little resistance movement is a traitor."

Lilo and Stitch turned to look toward the door. It was Nani who said that.

"Who is it?" Lilo asked.

"If we knew that," Nani answered. "he wouldn't be alive for very long."

Sam and Nani looked over at Lilo and Stitch. Sam then got up out of his seat and began toward the door. Before he could make it out, Nani grabbed him by the arm and whispered into his ear. "You don't honestly believe what they're telling you."

"No I don't." Sam whispered back. "But I do believe that this just may be the lucky break we've been looking for."

Sam jerked his arm out of Nani's grasp, and continued out the door. Nani's focused turned once again toward Lilo holding Stitch in her lap. With her arms still folded, Nani walked up to Lilo with a smirk on her face and an almost eerily casual stride. Lilo held Stitch a bit tighter as she approached.

Once in front of Lilo, Nani bent over to be in Lilo's face and spoke in the most relaxed voice they've heard from her so far, "You two are going to get it, I swear by that. I will not just stand here and watch while you insult me and my sister."

Lilo's grip on Stitch tightened even more as she heard those words. Nani raised herself up again, and just as casually as before, walked out of the room.

Lilo and Stitch looked at each other, and then hopped off the chair and ran out the door.

* * *

In the middle of a makeshift square room with walls of shelves stuffed with various scraped electronics, a few desks and chairs were sprawled about where people with dirty faces and even dirtier clothes busily worked taking disassembling and reassembling weapons, radios, and discussing tactics over large rolls of paper dumped out over the desks and floors. 

Lilo and Stitch entered the room and everything went silent. Everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare at the two of them. Lilo and Stitch stared back. A cough from the background eventually broke the silence, if only for a moment.

Lilo and Stitch slowly began walking forward, and the people in the room all cleared a path for them, until they stopped in the center.

"Um…" Lilo choked as soon as she said those words. With all these adults armed to the teeth, yet still staring at them afraid to move or speak, it was too much for her.

Stitch sensed this, and spoke for her. "Where is Sam?"

The people in the room all looked at each other. Murmurs could be heard throughout. After some time.

"Stitch good." Stitch said, trying desperately to talk with a soothing voice. "Not emperor. Stitch here to help."

A few more murmurs and the small crowed looked each other over once again. At last, one of the men came out and approached Stitch.

He was very young and skinny. He couldn't have been older than twenty. He knelt down and looked at Stitch in both terror and wonder simultaneously.

"If you're really good." He said. "Then you won't hurt me if I…"

The man slowly reached out his hand and wrapped it around Stitch's paw. Stitch got the idea, and put his other hand on top of the man's, and gently shook it.

After his hand was released, the man looked at Lilo and shook his head slowly. He stood up, turned around and began walking away, but stopped to say, "Sam is at the entrance with Nani discussing strategy." And then he continued walking away.

"Thank you." Stitch responded.

Lilo and Stitch walked out of the room side by side. The small crowd gathered around the exit of the room watching them leave.

* * *

At the entrance to the warehouse, Sam and Nani were talking to each other and to another middle aged man with a beard and glasses. 

"The only one I can think to replace him is Kaipo Walters." Sam said.

"Ol' skinny fingers Kaipo?" The middle aged man retorted. "He's not up to the challenge."

"He's the only one who's been to Marshall Islands before."

"Yeah." Nani scoffed. "And he stuck out like a sore thumb. The shopkeepers were hounding him like vultures."

"Do either of you have a better idea?" Sam asked.

It didn't take a split second for Nani to answer. "I say we let Marshall Islands fend for themselves until we can find someone who can do the job."

"I'd have to agree with Nani on this one." The middle aged man replied.

"Excuse me." Suddenly asked the voice of a little girl.

Nani, Sam, and the man looked down to see Lilo and Stitch staring up at them.

"Isn't Hawaii part of the United States." Lilo asked rhetorically. "So wouldn't they try and help us?"

"They did try." Nani answered. "They're still trying. All they've been able to do so far is smuggle us our weapons and food and first aid kits. But those things are no match for the emperor's weapons."

"What kind of weapons?"

"Ray guns, jetpacks, force fields, flying cars, you know, you're typical space opera stuff."

Just then, all the lights in the building exploded into a showers of sparks. All the computers crashed and then began pouring out smoke, all the radios and walkie talkies blasted out ear piercing static before catching fire, and all otherwise electronic equipment broke in equally explosive ways.

Nani, Sam, and the other man all duct to the floor and covered their heads. Lilo screamed at the top of her lungs and pulled Stitch tight against her, just before they both fell over, and then all was quiet again.

The air reeked of smoke and ozone, the only lights were from the daylight seeping in through the cracks in the walls and ceiling, and that was only enough to see people as dark blue silhouettes.

"We've been EMPed!" Nani shouted out. "The little girl and the thing led them here!"

"Impossible!" Sam shouted back. "They would've had no way to contact them! It was Keno, they must've drugged it out of him!"

"What's going on!" Lilo screamed.

"We've been shot by an EMP." Sam answered. "An electromagnetic pulse, it fries anything with an electrical circuit. The emperor's troops always EMP a place before attacking."

"I'll go give the evacuation orders!" Shouted out the middle aged man, and he got up and ran back toward the darkness of the warehouse.

"Naga evacuate!" Stitch shouted out. "Stay and fight!"

"We can't." Sam responded. "No one's ever survived an direct engagement with the emperor's troops, we have to flee."

"Stitch stay and fight with you." Stitch spoke softly as he walked over to Sam and held his arm.

"I appreciate your offer Stitch." Sam spoke equally softly. "But I still don't know whether or not I can trust you. We're evacuating, and that's that."


	9. Looking Into the Eyes of Death

** A Word to Fellow Authors**

Instead of my usual review responses, I've taken this space to write to fellow Lilo and Stitch fanfic authors about my other current story, _Gems of Tomorrow_. It seems I've somewhat ran out of inspiration for that story, although I already have many future events, as well as the climax and emotional ending well thought out, the material I have is more like swiss cheese than a coherent story. There are too many parts I have yet to plan out, and I'm kind of stuck as to what they should be.

This is why I've decided to make _Gems of Tomorrow_ into a collaboration. I've always found the best inspiration comes from dialogue between myself and someone of a similar level of creativity. So I'm asking if any author would offer themselves up as a partner to me in writing that story.

If you are considering this, than I must say that I would only be willing to work with the very best among Lilo and Stitch authors, and so far I've only seen three people who fit that category: The Great Red Dragon X, Ri2, and Bluefox Gantu's Lover and Mate.

The author I'm most hoping to get is The Great Red Dragon X. The kind of psychology he can put into the characters of L&S is absolutely incredible. –read _Light on the Mayo_ and pay close attention to how he handles 625 for a perfect example– however, considering his almost godlike status in this site, as well as his knack for waiting six or more months between updates, I have my doubts that it'll ever get done.

A very close second is Ri2, and I honestly think he'll be better suited for this than The Great Red Dragon X given his amazing ability to write thrilling action sequences. However, Ri2, if your listening, the reason I put you as second is that, while you are an extraordinary writer, I personally don't care for the ideas you come up with. I do not like placing the paranormal/supernatural into the world of Lilo and Stitch. That, and I have a rather frail psyche, meaning I can't stand sad endings to great stories. So, if you're going to volunteer, just remember that.

My third choice is Bluefox Gantu's lover and mate, simply for her amazing eye for detail. I have yet to find anyone who can make me SEE what's I'm reading as well as she can. And while her sheer creativity and originality might not be on par with the other two examples, I would still love to have her as a partner for a collaboration just because of her gift for exquisite detail. Then again, her name tells all, and considering Gantu will have a very small role in this story, I have my doubts that I'll be able to get her either.

Or who knows, I may end up with someone else entirely! If you think that by some odd chance that you might be on par with the authors I mentioned, refer me to your story, and I'll tell you quite tactlessly whether or not you measure up.

Just be warned, I can be somewhat difficult to work with, as I typically want my own way.

* * *

Everything was dark. Everything was quiet. For some time nothing happened. Sam, Nani, Lilo, and Stitch got up. Lilo stumbled about, feeling her way around for anything short and furry. She didn't have to look, as four familiar soft arms soon wrapped themselves around her and a whispering voice shushed into her ear. Lilo turned around to see Stitch's familiar glowing red eyes as he saw in infrared. 

A flash and a searing sound startled Lilo. As she turned around she saw it was only Sam holding a road flair in each hand. Nani followed suit, lighting two flairs of her own. All the flairs were dropped to the ground, and the sounds of more being lit up could be heard all throughout the warehouse, bathing the halls in a warm glow and a soft searing sound. Seeing the flairs illuminating the building, Stitch blinked, and his eyes turned black again.

Clacking of footsteps caused Sam to reflexively pull out two pistols and swing them around behind him. He only found the middle aged man with the beard looking back at him with his hands raised, and several dozen others standing behind him, some clutching rifles, others clutching wide tubes of black pvc pipe. All of them had at least two more tubes of pvc pie strapped to their backs.

Sam lifted his guns into he air and he middle aged man lowered his arms in response.

"It's just you." Sam said.

"The evacuation order's in." The middle aged man said. "I've brought the volunteers."

"Volunteers for what?" Lilo asked, but question went unanswered.

"How many RPGs do you have?" Sam continued.

"Just over sixty." The middle aged man answered.

"Only sixty?"

"Well, some people have been getting complacent recently."

Sam growled as he brought his head down and rested it on the stalk of his gun. "I just hope that'll be enough."

"What're RPGs?" Lilo asked again.

"Rocket propelled grenades." Sam answered. "They're the only things that can pierce the troops' body armor."

Sam's attention turned toward Nani. "I'll lead the volunteers, you go back and manage the evacuation."

"Sam!" Nani shouted in objection. "I can't let you risk your neck like that, you're too important to the movement!"

"I'm also a much better fighter than you Nani." Sam quickly retorted. "Do what I say!"

Nani scowled and shook her head slowly at Sam. It seemed like she was on the verge of screaming at him. But at the last second, she calmed down, lowered her head, and nodded with her eyes closed.

Nani began to walk back through the crowd, but stopped and turned around.

"I want you two with me." Nani said, pointing toward Lilo and Stitch.

"No!" Lilo shouted back. "I wanna' stay with Sam!"

"Ih!" Stitch added in. "Sam good! Nani nala queesta!"

"Do what she says." Sam told them in a harsh tone.

"But I wanna' stay with you!" Lilo pleaded.

Sam growled again. "Fine, but neither of you two leave my side for an instant!"

"Sam you can't-" Nani yelled out.

"You have your orders Nani!" Sam yelled back.

Nani snarled as she grasped her short hair, and then turned around and stomped off through the crowd of volunteers. They all looked back at her in mild apprehension until.

"What are you doing!" Sam screamed out at them. "Take up positions!"

All the volunteers scrambled forward, some falling down in the commotion. They knelt down and unstrapped the pvc pipes from their backs, aiming them over the shoulder at the garage door entrance to the warehouse. Some held the pipes in one hand and lighters or flairs in the other, others held on with both hands while someone else held a lighter, match, or flair behind them. All tried desperately to hide behind some sort of obstacle, no matter how ridiculous, some even tried hiding behind empty tin shelves. Sam himself halfway hid behind one of the makeshift walls. Someone handed him three pvc pipes bound together with cable ties, and he aimed it at the entrance along with the rest of the volunteers. Lilo and Stitch both clung to Sam's leg, barely peering out from behind the makeshift wall.

For some time, nothing happened.

"How long does it take them to show up?" Lilo whispered up toward Sam.

Sam answered without moving his head. "Anywhere from less than a minute, to half and hour. You can never tell."

Some time more, nothing happened.

"How do you know they're going to attack from the front?" Lilo asked again.

"They always attack from the front." Sam answered. "It's a matter of pride for the emperor that they always win despite using predictable tactitcs."

A little while longer, still nothing happened.

"What are these people volunteering for?" Lilo asked, even though she had an inkling of what the answer was, she wanted details.

"Holding off the troops long enough for the evacuation to stand a chance." Sam whispered back. "More or less, they're volunteering to die."

Lilo and Stitch both gasped in unison and looked up at Sam, who still didn't move his head.

"The survival rate of these volunteer efforts is less than ten percent."

Lilo froze at hearing those words. She stopped breathing and suddenly felt her head spinning. She was going to be put in the middle of a situation with only a ten percent chance of survival? And that was for a rebel with a machine gun and a pvp pipe bazooka. She didn't know whether to tense up, or to go totally limp.

Her breathing was stuttered, she was shivering, her hands were clenched. Lilo was unaware of any of these things, but Stitch felt it in his chest as he held Lilo against him, trying to calm her by rocking her back and forth. But his efforts were in vain, as Lilo suddenly came to realize exactly the situation she was in, and lost all awareness of even Stitch's embrace.

The tension building up in Lilo's tiny frame was finally too much for her to take, and she let out an ear piercing scream so abrupt and painful that everyone around her almost dropped their things in shock. Stitch was the most shocked out of all of them. His unrivaled sensitive hearing was too much to stand against such a horrid shriek, and he let go of Lilo and grasped his ears in pain.

As soon as she stopped screaming Lilo darted off into the halls of the warehouse. Sam took after her, only a few steps though, realizing he was more needed then and there.

"Hey! Get back here now!" Sam yelled as loud as he could into the dark tunnels of the warehouse. "Dammit kid! You're gonna' get yourself killed!"

"Stitch find Lilo!" Stitch yelled back. "Keep her safe!"

Sam turned toward Stitch, his face lit up with so many mixed emotions that it was impossible to tell what he was thinking or feeling. In the end it just looked like fatigue. But in such a circumstance, one would never have the luxury of worrying about such trivial things as the trustworthiness of the likeness of your enemy, or the safety of children.

"Fine! Go get her!" Sam said after some hesitation. "Just stay out of the fight!"

"Ih!"

And Stitch took off into the warehouse after Lilo.

Sam turned back toward the garage door entrance to the warehouse, all the other volunteers following his lead.

For some minutes more, still nothing happened. Beads of sweat running down his forehead is the only thing giving away the nervousness of the otherwise tranquil, and deep breathing Sam Winnfield. His gaze averted from the entrance only momentarily by the mechanical rattling of one of the volunteers constantly shifting his aim back and forth.

A few more minutes passed. Now a distant humming could be heard.

The volunteers looked around confused as to where it could have been coming from. Sam tilted his head slightly to get a better listen at the sound, quickly getting louder.

"They're coming in on skyboats." Sam whispered just loud enough for all the others to hear.

The humming became louder, and louder. The volunteers clutching their pvp pipe bazookas tighter, and their breaths quickening. Sam, on the other hand, loosened his own grip, and began to breath more slowly.

The humming continued to grow in volume and pitch until it was a shriek that hurt the ears of all who listened.

As the volunteers took aim at the garage door entrance of the warehouse, an ear-splitting crash preceded the roof collapsing in on the entrance to the warehouse.

The roof landed on three of the volunteers, crushing them. Two more had limbs trapped beneath the rubble; they were done for.

Before anyone had time to react, a jet-black, flying boat with a flat bottom swooped into the hole of the roof. Two spinning turrets, triple barreled, one forward, one aft, twirling around and firing globs of blue gelatinous plasma at unheard of rates of fire, exploding into ten-thousand degree clouds of blue smoke on impact, turning walls, obstacles, and people into thin, black husks billowing out ozone and carbon monoxide.

Half the volunteers were fried into searing skins before they even got one shot out at the flying boat, dying so quickly they never had time to scream.

All at once, a volley of RPGs were launched at the flying boat. The air filled with smoke of all colors, you could barely see what you were firing at. Only the explosions of RPGs and the flashes of plasma globules could be seen through it.

The RPGs never hit their target though. They were stopped just short of the flying black boat by what looked to be a spherical wall of red water encasing the boat. The turrets kept firing, and the volunteers kept dropping to the floor as skeletons wrapped in a thin black membrane. One could barely here the sounds of people screaming and swearing over the explosive firefight.

But the RPGs kept firing, and soon, it was clear they were having an effect. The red wall surrounding the flying boat began to turn color. Orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and finally everything went pure white, bright enough to blind the volunteers even through the smoke.

"Their shield's down!" Sam's scream was just loud enough for everyone to discern.

"Kill 'em!", "Fire!", "Right now dammit!", "Die you piece of!"

Everyone shouted out at once, and when the light finally faded, the RPGs continued flying, this time hitting their target. The boat was knocked back and forth. The turrets ceased firing as the shaking had compromised their aim. The RPGs kept flying and turning the smooth polished surface of the boat into a collection of gray and white dents and welts.

At last, one RPG tore a hole in the plating on the bottom of the boat. One volunteer, a tired old black woman with gray hair and an eyepatch stood directly below the boat. A flair in her free hand, she fired her RPG propped up on the ground straight into the hole torn into the plating.

Flames shot out of the hole in the plating, and the air filled with the horrid sound of tearing metal as the entire boat was lifted almost ten more feet into the air, and then fell back down, smashing the tired old black woman beneath it.

After some time, the deafening sound faded into the occasional clattering of a small piece of tumbling debris. The sounds of coughing and wheezing from all the smoke, dust, ozone, and carbon monoxide could now be heard clear as crystal. It was a morbid relief from the sounds that preceded it. The brown and black smoke was now clearing into a white fog, letting the rays of the sun inside through the roof to let people see once more.

Sam crouched behind a pile of smoldering concrete shreds. He could barely breath and his eyes felt as if they had been immersed in bleach. He still clung as if seeking protection to his bundle of pvc bazookas. Both ends of the pipes were blackened and ripped open from firing their RPGs.

Once the smoke cleared enough for Sam to catch his breath, he reached for the back of his belt and unlatched a canteen. He brought it up to his face and pulled out the lid with his teeth. As excruciating as it was, Sam opened his eyes to wash them out with the poring water from the canteen, and then drank what little was left from it, tossing it behind him when he was done. At last Sam felt decent enough to stand up and look around.

Nothing was recognizable. The walls of the entrance were now gaping holes wih smoking edges. The floor was a mess of shredded metals, concrete, and the smoking remains of human bodies. Sam made a quick count of the area. Only seventeen people were still alive, including himself. Seventeen of an original forty-one. They were sitting down, shaking and hugging themselves. They were washing out their eyes and pouring water down their own noses just to get the smoke out. They were wandering about trying to make sense of what had just happened. They were drenched in dust, covered in cuts and burns, a few even groaned in agony on the floor, gripping at black charred stumps where limbs once were.

Sam made his way clumsily to the center of the wreckage, accidentally stepping on the skull of a fried volunteer, crushing it into powder. He paid it no mind. As he reached the center, he looked up into the hole in the ceiling, and visored his eyes with his hand.

The survivors of the volunteers stumbled about looking for unused bazookas, or anything they could use to treat their wounds. Sam didn't even notice his own burns and bleeding as he looked up at the sky, now just visible.

Through the calm, a new noise could be heard, not like the humming before. This noise sounded like the screaming of jet engines. Many jet engines fast approaching.

"The troops!" Sam tried to yell out in his hoarse voice, but couldn't. Still, he was loud enough to draw the volunteers' attention. "They're coming." Sam turned back toward the remainder of the volunteers, all now frozen and staring at him. "Everyone with a functional RPG stay behind, the rest of you fall back with me."

Sam made his way out of the wreckage, and into the darker depths of the warehouse. Thirteen volunteers followed him, six of whom had to be carried on the backs of others. Sam grabbed a one of the few still working flairs as he disappeared into the warehouse. Only three volunteers stayed behind.

Their faces covered in dried, brown blood and dirt, the three volunteers still with working pvc bazookas crouched down behind piles of rubble, aiming their pipes over the shoulder at the hole in the roof in one hand, and rummaging around for glowing hot scraps in the other to light them with. Their fingers and toes were numb. They could barely see with the pain in their eyes. None of them thought they could actually hit the targets they were going to be fighting, but they had a job to do, and there was nothing they could do about it now.

The roaring of the jet engines came closer. The volunteers gripped their pipes tighter. But then the jets quieted. One of the volunteers loosened his grip on his pipe, and wide eyed, raked his nails down his forehead, thinking, hoping, that this was the end of a bad dream, and trying to wake himself up with the pain. But all he got was a stinging in his head, and only a slight amount of fresh blood on his fingertips.

None of them ever saw their targets. One after the other, three bright blue globs of plasma streaked into the wreckage of the front of the warehouse, and one after the other, hit each of the three volunteers square in the chest. They all flew from their places into the air, across the room, landing like rag dolls, twisted like pretzels, their entire torsos turned black and green, hardened to the consistency of brick, leaving their limbs and lifeless faces intact. Not one of them fired an RPG.

The sound of jets lit up again, and a lone black suited troop slowly descended into the heap of rubble and bodies where the entrance to the warehouse once stood. Only the soft glow of green lights from the troop's back gave any visual indication that he had flown in on some sort of jetpack. The light faded on his landing, and with it, so did the roaring of his jetpack.

This troop was different from the ones seen before. His suit carried no armor plating; it was soft. His mask carried the largest, and most ornate and complicated looking black goggles. His blaster was long, twice as long as those carried by the other troops. He was a sniper, or at least one would think so.

The troop quickly glanced around, moving no part of himself but his head and neck, and then shot a blast straight up into the air.

The sound of jets was heard again, and ten more armored troops with blaster carbines descended into the rubble. They held their carbines at their hips and casually walked forward into the warehouse.

Deeper inside, deep enough so that the only light given off was that of the flairs, Sam and three other volunteers, almost in a panic, rummaged through the electronic equipment on the cheap tin shelves in front of them, throwing whatever they couldn't use on the floor. At last they had come upon what they were looking for, motion detectors.

Sam gathered as many motion detectors as he could in his arms and ran to a table on the other side of the room, dumping them all onto the table. At the same time another of the volunteers dropped a load of sealed pvc pipes only a foot long on the table from the other end.

"We only have enough time to make five proximity mines, at most." Sam hurriedly said to the other volunteer. "The rest of you get going!" He shouted at the other two.

"But you know how slow those things move." The first volunteer replied.

"I also know they never stop moving."

Sam and the other volunteer began tearing open the plastic coverings of the motion detectors with their bare hands. They cut open bundles of wires inside them with utility knives, stripped them, wrapped the wires around nine volt batteries from a package already on the table, and stuck the ends in predrilled holes in sealed pvc tubes.

In their scramble, the two had rigged seven pipes with motion detectors before they heard the sound of blaster fire. They turned to see three globs of dark brown plasma flying toward them, but they were slow moving, and fell to the ground with a splat. The globs of brown plasma began pouring out burning red smoke upon landing on the ground.

"I'll lay down the mines, you get going. You're more important here than I am." The volunteer said to Sam.

Sam nodded and took off further down the hall.

The volunteer stared back at Sam for only a moment, and then began slowly following him with one arm full of pvc tubes. Crawling backwards across the floor, he carefully laid the tubes down on the ground, motion detectors facing forward, and flicked them on. Just as he laid down the last of the mines, he lifted his head to see the silhouettes of three troops emerging from the red smoke with carbines poised. The first one out didn't hesitate to fire. The volunteer had only enough time to blink as the blue bold struck him in the face. He was sent hurtling into the shelves behind him. A smoking black stump of flesh he now had for a neck, and nothing for a head.

The troops continued their advance, nonchalant as if they were strolling down the street, until one of them stepped in front of a motion detector. The tube exploded with the force of a bundle of dynamite, sending four of the troops flying off in various directions. The troops stopped their advance and turned to look at the ones who had fallen.

Two of them were dead. The other two had cracked and burned armor, leaking their strange pink blood from their suits. One was missing a right arm, thick pink blood dripping from the wound. But they both just stood back up, and picked up their carbines once more. Not the slightest sign of pain or wincing was given from either of them.

The troops stood and took aim at the pvc tubes in front of them. They shoot each one on the mark, blowing all of them, filling the room with knocked over shelves and white smoke. And then they advanced forward again.

Sam ran through the hallway, people around him panicking to fill backpacks with whatever they think might be important and then flee for their lives. Not looking where he was going, he tripped over something. Just after hitting the floor, he looked up to see what it was.

It was Stitch, with his extra arms, antennae, and quills all extended.

"What are you doing here!" Sam shouted out at Stitch.

"Meega naga Lilo haggata!" Stitch shouted back.

Sam could only guess as to what that meant, but he had no time for that. "Go get the little girl, take her to the back of the warehouse and don't interfere!"

Stitch ran back further into the depths of the warehouse. Sam turned back toward where he just came from to see two, then four, then six troops walking toward him. They opened fire as soon as they walked into the glow of the flairs set up in the room.

Rifle fire met plasma fire in a total confusion of light, sound, and screaming. Shelves knocked over and charred pieces of human bodies were flung about as the troops continued to advanced, unhindered by the rifle rounds, except for the occasional one in a thousand shot that would go straight through the eyepiece of the mask of one of them, and he would fall down dead, his bright pink blood flowing through the hole in the mask.

Sam crawled across the ground on his belly in the flurry. The troops, in their bizarre logic, never took aim at him, as if they didn't consider someone crawling on his belly to be a threat, or even a worthwhile target.

As Sam finally crawled his way into the next room, he sat up and pressed his back against the wall. He took off his bandoleer carrying grenades and waited for the sounds of the firefight to die off. He pulled the pin off one grenade, and then leapt across the entrance to the room an threw the bandoleer into the other room. The front most troop fired at him, the plasma barely skimmed his shoulder. The top of his sleeve burst into flames and he rolled around trying to put them out.

When the flames were out, Sam saw in the room, a commotion of people running back and forth yes, but in the center of it all, Lilo curled into a ball, covered in soot, shivering from all the noises of the gunfire and the explosions and the screaming. Stitch stood above her, holding her, trying to comfort her as best he could, knowing it was no use.

But the grenade Sam threw into the other room went off, and with it, all the others on the bandoleer. The floor rocked with the deafening blast, and all standing were knocked over. Four more troops were sent flying, dead or dying, from the blast.

Stitch's sensitive ears couldn't take it, and he was once again grasping at them in agony.

Lilo was tumbled about by the blast as well. She uncurled onto the floor on her back and screamed as loud as she could, just adding to the pain in Stitch's ears.

Without thinking, Lilo got up and ran, not knowing what direction it was in, not even opening her eyes to see. But as Stitch recovered and looked up, he saw. Lilo was running right toward the incoming troops.

Lilo ran right into the leg of one of them and was promptly picked up. She opened her eyes to see a vicious black gas mask staring back at her, and she screamed once again.

The troop held fast to Lilo as she struggled against him. His strength seemed superhuman. He stood there as the other troops passed him by, and then spoke to Lilo in a frightening monotone and mechanical voice, as if speaking through a fan.

"By the constitution of the Pacific Empire, all rebel children are to be taken to Capitol City and rehabilitated."

"Nooo!" Lilo screamed back.

Lilo hit him across the helmet many times, but no use. At last she grabbed his gas mask and pulled it off his face. What she saw was not human.

The troop's skin was navy blue. His nose was flat, his ears pointed as if elfin, and his eyes solid black, without iris or pupil.

Lilo screamed a third time, and the troop turned around and began to carry her away.

"Stitch!" Lilo screamed over the troop's shoulder. "Stitch! Help me!"

Stitch heard this, and it finally became too much for him.

The troops continued their advance, shooting into the room and frying rebel after rebel. Sam had been backed up into a pile of trash and shattered concrete. He pulled out his pistol and fired. It went straight through the eyepiece of the troop he was aiming at, knocking him over dead.

Another troop swung around and fired his carbine straight at Sam's face. There was no time to react except toshut his eyes tight, even though a million thoughts would race through Sam's mind as the glowing blue orb flew toward him.

And then… nothing.

Sam opened his eyes. It took him a few seconds to realize he was still alive, and a few more to realize that all had gone silent. The rebels, the troops, all stood motionless staring at Sam. No. It wasn't Sam, it was something in front of him.

Sam looked down to see a snarling, drooling Stitch. Stitch held the blue glob of plasma in his two top hands.

It took Sam another few seconds to realize just what was so remarkable about that site. That plasma would turn tempered steel into brown soup in an instant, and yet Stitch was holding it in his hands with no ill effects.

"My god." Sam whispered to himself. "He really does have the powers of the emperor."

The precious silence was broken as Stitch threw the glob of Plasma back at the troop who fired it, sending him careening across the room with a white, smoking chest plate.

Stitch cried out as he flew threw the air, head butting another troop and shattering his chest plate, and then grabbed him by the neck and twisted it, snapping it. Stitch flew off the now dead troop onto another, punching him in the face, driving his own gas mask through his flesh. And he continued, leaping from troop to troop, killing each of them, until he landed, legs wrapped around the neck of the one that held Lilo. A quick squeeze and his neck was snapped as well.

Stitch hopped off and landed on the ground with just enough time to catch Lilo as she fell.

Stitch then looked up. He was surrounded by troops. There had to be at least a dozen of them. Stitch arched forward and extended his lower claws, snarling at them, waiting for them to make the first move while Lilo pressed herself into Stitch as hard as she could.

But they never attacked. The troops surrounded him and stared at him, but they never attacked, nor did they make a move against the rebels, as their attention was drawn solely toward him.

Stitch looked confused for a moment, until he heard Sam's voice coming from the pile of trash and shattered concrete some ways behind him.

"They're not fighting back! They think you're the emperor!" Sam said, still sitting and leaning back against the pile. "Make them go away!"

Stitch continued to look at the troops some time more, before clearing his throat.

"The emperor gives new orders!" Stitch said. "Go away. Do not bug rebels anymore."

The troops all turned to look at each other, and then back at Stitch. They all then walked away into the darkness of the warehouse.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at what just happened. Stitch was more surprised than anyone that what he had just done actually worked. But his shock could only last the moment, as realized Lilo was in his arms crying into his chest, crying harder than she had ever cried before.

Stitch sat down and began rocking Lilo back and forth, shushing into her ear and stroking her head with his one free hand.

"Shhh. Is all okie-taka." Stitch whispered into Lilo's ear. "Fighting all gone. Bad things all gone."

The few still alive and healthy enough to do so, slowly gathered around Stitch. Stitch looked up from Lilo's ear, but still stroking her head.

They were all staring at him. But this time, their stares weren't of anger, or fear, now they stared in awe.

Stitch didn't care at this point. He just went back to shushing in Lilo's ear.

"Shhh. Is all over." He whispered. "No more fighting. No more shooting."

After a minute, Stitch looked up again to see Sam standing in front of him. Stitch drooped his ears and lowered his head submissively.

"Stitch sorry." He said softly.

"Sorry for what?" Sam responded.

"Sam tell Stitch not to interfere. But Stitch interfere anyway."

"It's okay Stitch. You were right to disobey me. You saved my life, and the life of that little girl, and the lives of everyone else still standing in this room."

"Um, Stitch?"

Stitch over up to find a young woman looking down at him.

"A man named Chase Flanders wants to see you." She told him softly.

Stitch stood up, still cradling Lilo in his arms, and followed the woman to the other side of the room.

Sprawled out on the floor was a young boy. He couldn't be older than eighteen. His right shoulder and right side of his chest was one huge burn. But even through his burns and his bleeding, Stitch could tell that this was the same boy who dared to shake his hand less than an hour ago.

"Stitch." Chase could only whisper. "Come closer."

Stitch obeyed and now looked down into Chase's eyes.

"I guess I should feel lucky that my whole body is numb, considering what I must look like. I can't even feel my own mouth moving.  
"Stitch… the emperor took my family from me. My home, my girlfriend, the town I live in, all my friends, my entire life. Stitch, you're the only consolation I have. If it's within your power to do so… kill the emperor, do it hard, and do it well."

After those words, chase stopped breathing, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

Lilo at last dared to look out from Stitch's chest, and into Chase's lifeless and quickly paling face.

Stitch set Lilo down onto the ground, and she continued to stare into the dead man's face, her head shaking, her body shaking. She tried as hard as she could to cry, to scream, to do anything, but she couldn't. She could only stare, slowly shaking her head.

"I take it you have never before looked into the eyes of death."

Lilo recognized the voice of Sam from behind her, but still couldn't move.

Sam continued. "Chase Flanders was only seventeen years old, but he told me he was ready to die, as he no longer had anything in his life worth caring about.  
"As horrifying as this image is little girl, you must realize that the face of death is not always so ugly. Sometimes it can even be soothing. But such unsightly death as this, as horrid as it is, imparts on you a kind of wisdom that nothing else can.  
"So look little girl. Look into the face of unsightly death, and never forget it."


	10. Emotional Novacaine

Review Responses 

To Ri2: You're ideas certainly did help. Although some of them I can't use, and I think you slightly misunderstood what I said about Emerald, allot of them were still of great help, and I've managed to combine two of them to fill in the gap of next chapter, though there are still gaps to go.

To Mimic12355: I've read both your and Torcher's stuff. It's very well worded, but the creativity isn't quite on par with what I'm looking for. I really do appreciate the offer though.

To Spirit's Shadow: One of the points I'm trying to get at in this story is to put a child through the kind of trauma most adults can't handle. Stitch's support would be the only reason she wouldn't loose it completely. I'm still trying to find someone good at child psychology to help me out in how she would react to this.

To A. Nonymous: You just, don't get it… do you? The review button is for reviewing and critiquing, not for wishing people happy holidays. I deleted your last review. (I was going to say nice things about you too!)

To Ted: You know, I tried to involve Lilo and Stitch more in the battle scene, but I just couldn't figure out how.  
The 'middle aged man' was not named because he only appears in those two chapters. Presumably, he was killed in the firefight.

To Baal 626: Have you yet read 'The Only Thing Worse Than Dying'? 'Cause you haven't reviewed it.

* * *

It had been a week since the emperor's troops had attempted their siege on the once abandoned warehouse that now housed an underground resistance movement against the emperor. The few who survived had somewhat gotten on with their lives. The day after the attack everyone had abandoned the warehouse to find anew HQ. They found it in a shut down and run down lava observatory some distance from Kalapana on the Big Island. Although now Kalapana was just called Hawaii-11

The place was perfect. Since the tourist industry was now nonexistent in any of the pacific islands, there was no more use for a lava observatory, so no one had ever stepped foot inside for the last two years. It also had its own diesel generator, although it was in some need of repairs.

Each individual survivor took a separate route to reach Hawaii-11, and eventually the run down lava observatory, so as not to attract attention to them as a group. Even after the week was over, not everyone had arrived yet. There was still no sign of the group Nani had led out during the attack itself.

What of Lilo and Stitch?

Sam had stowed away aboard a liner shipping sheet metal from Kauai to the Big Island, and took Lilo and Stitch with him. There were quite a few times during the trip when they were almost spotted. Somehow, they managed to make it out without drawing attention to themselves. Though Stitch had to take the entire trip shoved inside a backpack.

After she had witnessed that fight, Lilo was never quite the same. Even now at the observatory, with relative peace, her own bed, clean clothes and regular food, that battle was too ingrained in her head, and she could never bring herself all the way out of it.

She could only sleep at night if she was being held by Stitch. Even then, she would cry and mumble, and shudder. This would keep Stitch up all night, and so he would sleep most of the day. It took Stitch three days of trying just to get Lilo to eat. She still wouldn't walk or talk. She would only stare into space utterly devoid of expression. Stitch had to carry her everywhere.

Lilo sat on the narrow concrete steps that, in two more steps, led to swinging glass door entrance to the observatory. There was no longer any glass on the door, but many layers of black plastic sheeting had been duct taped all around the sides. The entire building looked like four concrete cubes of different sizes stuck together atop a small hill.

Lilo sat beneath the tarp set up just above the door, since the original cloth porch roof had been torn off long ago. She looked down at the concrete stairway leading down some distance, turning occasionally to avoid a sharp jutting rock.

She was now dressed in plain gray slacks and a green long sleeve shirt with the familiar sword-in-anvil logo across the chest. She rested her chin in her hands and looked out.

It was raining fairly hard. You could here the occasional distant sound of thunder, but it was all too far away to see.

Lilo didn't flinch as she heard the slight creaking of the front door opening. Stitch sat beside her on the concrete step with a small paper bag in his hands, which he set down between Lilo and himself.

Stitch reached inside and pulled out the large, dense MRE cracker with a thin coating of a greenish jelly ontop.

"Stitch bring food." He said softly. "It is not very good, but filling."

Stitch had to pry Lilo's hand open and force the cracker inside for her to pay any attention to it.

Lilo held the cracker up to her face and stared at it for a few minutes before taking the slightest nibble. It may have been slow, but she was eating, and or a time, they couldn't even get her to do that much.

Stitch turned back toward the rain.

"It is nice," Stitch continued. "listening to rain. It is… relaxing."

Stitch glanced over at Lilo still barely nibbling on her cracker.

Stitch reached into the paper bag and pulled out another cracker covered with the same green jelly. He tossed it into his mouth and swallowed without chewing. He turned back toward Lilo. She was still barely nibbling on hers.

"I like listening to rain." Stitch still spoke to Lilo. "It helps me go to sleep."

After a few more minutes, Lilo was finally finished with her cracker, and she rested her chin in her hands once again.

Stitch pushed the paper back away and scooted closer to Lilo. He reached his arm around her shoulder hoping that she would give some kind of reaction. She didn't.

Stitch sighed, but his ears flicked into attention when he saw someone climbing the steps to the observatory entrance.

She climbed slowly, wearing a black, hooded trench coat, again with the sword-in-anvil logo in white on the back. Stitch held Lilo just a bit tighter as the woman approached, until she was standing right in front of the two of them beneath the tarp.

Lilo still held her head down.

The woman pulled off her hood and Stitch relaxed his grip on Lilo as he saw who it was.

"Nani." Stitch said, being as monotonous as possible.

"I heard what you did." Nani responded. "Politely asked the troops to just go away and leave us alone did you?"

There was an awkward silence for some time. Stitch didn't like how Nani was looking at him. He held Lilo a little tighter.

"Next time they find us, that trick won't work." Nani said. "Not now that they know we have a double of the emperor here with us. And now they're gonna' double their search force just to find you."

There was a while more of awkward silence. Nani at last continued.

"I also heard you held a ball of plasma right in your hands. That doesn't impress me much. Well… it does, but it's nothing compared to the things the emperor can do."

"Anything emperor can do, Stitch can do!" Stitch quickly snorted back.

There was just a bit more awkward silence.

Nani looked down at Lilo, and was clearly angered by Lilo's state. Nani huffed.

"I still think you two are spies." She said, just before opening the door and walking inside.

Stitch let out a deep breath as Nani disappeared behind the door. He pulled his arm off of Lilo's shoulder and replaced it with his leaning head.

"Ssssaaaa…"

Stitch's ears perked up at the whisper. He lifted his head up and looked at Lilo, never more hopeful in his life than in this moment.

"Stitch."

Lilo's whisper was barely audible, but it was enough to bring tears down Stitch's face.

Stitch had an overwhelming urge to jump ontop of Lilo at that very moment and smother her with affection. But more than that, he wanted to hear her say something more, and he knew doing anything so sudden might shock her back into her previous state. So, with hands shaking from repressing his urges, he slowly wrapped one arm around Lilo's shoulder, and held her head against his chest with the other.

"Lilo say something to Stitch?" Stitch whispered. "What is it?"

It took some time for Lilo to speak.

"It's my fault."

"Gaba?"

Stitch released his grip on Lilo, and turned toward Stitch with tears pouring down her cheeks. Lilo shook her head.

"This is all my fault." She whispered again. "Everyone. This world. Chase is dead because of me."

Stitch cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"I should've listened to him." Lilo continued. "I should've listened to Jumba. But I had to go back and save mom and dad. I'm an idiot Stitch. I should be locked up. This whole world is my fault."

"Naga!" Stitch cried out at Lilo, but after a few seconds, he lowered his head.

"Well, yes." Stitch whispered. "It is your fault. But, is also my fault."

"What?" Lilo asked.

"You went back, but I saved parents. I knew I shouldn't have, but I did anyway."

"Why did you do it?"

Stitch hesitated before answering. "I did not want to see you sad."

Lilo sighed.

Not another word was said for quite some time. Lilo and Stitch just sat on the top steps to the observatory for another hour or so until the rain began to clear up. When at last there was nothing left but a light sprinkle, and Stitch's paper bag was now empty, Stitch turned back toward Lilo.

"Let's go inside." Stitch said.

Lilo nodded her head.

Stitch got up and wrapped his arms around Lilo. He picked Lilo up in his arms but she pushed away and he set her back down.

"I can walk." Lilo whispered.

Stitch nodded his head. They both walked inside.

It was dark, moist, and smelled of mildew. After the week the survivors of the raid hadn't even enough time to unpack. Much less clean. The place was littered with boxes, blankets and cobwebs. It was dark. The electricity was conserved as much as possible, only the few radios and computers would run at all times.

Lilo and Stitch walked side by side into the lobby to a sight of people trying to set up work areas, unpack boxes, and make half-assed attempts at repairing various electronics.

Everything stopped once Lilo and Stitch entered the room. Everyone looked at them. By now they had all heard the story. Stitch was at first evil, But the little girl Lilo found him, and taught him how to love. They went back in time to save Lilo's parents from a fatal car accident, and upon returning, found that Stitch had never met Lilo, and was still evil. They all heard that story many times. None of them knew whether or not to believe it. But it hardly mattered to them, as they all now looked upon Stitch almost as a messiah.

As Stitch continued to walk through the observatory, he looked into the faces of all the rebels and saw that they placed all their hopes and cares on his shoulders. But right now he wasn't looking for their praise. Right now he was looking for something much more specific.

In a room toward the back, he found it. Stitch peered inside the small office area with a sliding glass door leading out to a deck in the back, and at a very familiar looking cheap buffet table with folding metal chairs, Sam and Nani talked.

"Where is the rest of your group?" Sam asked.

"We all split up after evacuating." Nani answered. Her voice was slurred, and she let her head and shoulders droop forward. She seemed very fatigued for some reason. "They all told me they'd catch up with me after a few days, but they never did. They should be here now! I don't know if any of 'em made it."

Stitch's leaning had caused the door to the office room to creak. Nani and Sam's attention was turned toward him.

Nani's turning body finally revealed perfectly square, black bottle of Imperial brand Gin in one of her hands, and a black shotglass in the other.

"What the hell do you want?" Nani just managed to mutter out at Stitch.

Stitch walked slowly into the room, his ears hung down. Lilo followed him.

"Hi sam." Lilo barely made out in a whisper. "Nani."

Nani shook her head and flailed her arm carrying her bottle of Gin into the air, splashing some onto the table and floor. "And here they were telling me you were all catatonic and stuff."

"I wasn't catatonic." Lilo whispered up again. "I was just… thinking."

"Thinking about what?" Sam spoke up.

"I'm gettin' outa here before the cheese reaches critical mass." Nani mumbled out angrily. She sat up, and then held her head as if dizzy or in pain. Nani finally proceeded to walk to the back of the room, yank the sliding glass door open, and slam in shut on her way out.

Lilo walked over to Sam, who gave the slightest of smiles, and then picked her up into his lap. Stitch sat down in a chair next to them.

"So little girl." Sam said. "What have you been thinking of."

Lilo's face turned. She looked up at Sam, and what he saw chilled him to the bone. However such a description seems contradictory, her face was one of both pure anger, and absolute calm. Her eyes always seemed on the brink of tearing, but would never cross the line, as if all their tears had already been used up. But behind all of this, was someone who didn't know whether to collapse from exhaustion, or go out and wreak havoc in a blaze of fire. This was a face Sam Winnfield was all too familiar with, as he often saw it in his own.

"I want to fight the emperor." Lilo whispered.

"No!" Sam said, and a raw emotion, sadness, anger, confusion, righteousness, permeated his voice. Emotion was never present in anything he said before seeing the look in Lilo's eyes. "No!" He continued. "War is not something a little girl should involve herself with. You should be staying here and resting your little mind."

"I can't." Lilo said a bit louder. "This is all my fault."

_Hmmmnn? _Stitch sounded as he cocked his head to the side at Lilo's comment.

"The Empire of the Pacific Islands is all my fault." Lilo said a bit louder. "I made this mess. I need to fix it."

"Naga!" Stitch shouted as he jumped up on the table and grabbed Lilo's hands. "Our fault! Not yours! We fix mess together! Not you alone!"

Lilo turned back to Sam once Stitch let go of her hands. "Still… … … Still."

Lilo turned toward Stitch, and then back toward Sam. Lilo reached over and pulled Sam's pistol out of its holster and aimed it at his chest while still sitting in his lap.

"It's my job." Lilo said.

Sam looked into her eyes for a time longer. The look was unmistakable. It was genuine.

"Very well." Sam said, and gently took the gun from Lilo's hands and placed it back inside his holster.

"Can I talk to Nani?" Lilo asked.

"You can." Sam answered. "But she won't be very receptive."

Lilo hopped off Sam's lap an walked over to the sliding glass door. She slid it open with both hands. Stitch quickly hoped off the table and followed her, stopping just at the door and watching her as she talked with Nani.

Nani looked down at Lilo, and shoved her bottle of Imperial brand Gin in her face.

"Try some." Nani said.

Lilo took the bottle in her hands and looked at it. "What is it?"

"Emotional novocaine."

Without hesitating, Lilo took one quick chug from the bottle. It tasted the same way lighter fluid smelled. She spit it out and winced her face in disgust. Nani burst out laughing at the display, and quickly snatched the bottle back up, taking a quick chug of her own.

"How can you stand that stuff!" Lilo shouted out.

"It get's my mind of just how useless this all is." Nani answered.

"What do you mean useless?"

"Exactly what I said. Useless! Everything! Our weapons, our efforts, this whole damn resistance is useless! We just lost Alice MacAbbey yesterday. Do you know who she is?"

Lilo shook her head.

"Alice MacAbbey was our contact with Micronesia. First Marshall Islands, then Micronesia. Our HQ in New Guinea has also just been sacked thanks to Keno Hirasawa. What an upstanding citizen he is!  
"The only places left with anything worthwhile for this little rebellion here are Fiji, Samoa, and right here in Hawaii. Pretty soon we'll all be cut of from each other.  
"It's impossible kid. It's impossible to beat the emperor. It just can't be done."

Lilo lowered her head for a minute. She looked back up partially to look over the balcony at a tumbling flow of Ah-Ah glowing rocks. It was a flowing river of Pahoihoi lava earlier in the day, but the rain tended to be just a bit disagreeable to it.

Lilo looked back up at Nani. "Than why do you keep fighting?"

"I dunno'." Nani responded. "Force a habbit I guess."

Lilo nodded her head, and turned around to go back inside. Stitch shifted out of her way as she walked by. He watched her walk away until she turned the corner out of the room, and then he turned back toward Nani.

Stitch was next in line to walk outside and talk to Nani.

"Is not all useless."

Stitch's words made Nani jump and turn around to face Stitch.

"It is possible to fight emperor. I can fight emperor."

Nani sneered at Stitch's comment. "I trust you to beat him even less than myself. You wanna' know something?"

Stitch stared blankly at Nani's question. She just took it as a yes.

"Lilo died in my arms." Nani said. "The troops came to my house shooting. They shot Lilo with one of their… ray guns, whatever the hell you call 'em. I barely manage to get out with my own life, carrying her over my shoulder. But not without this to show for it."

Nani ran her finger down her cheek, parallel to the scar down her face.

"When I finally lost 'em." Nani continued. "I looked down at Lilo, and her whole body was one huge, ugly burn. And you wanna' know what she told me?"

Nani let out a brief pause, once again interpreting Stitch's silence as a 'yes'.

"She told me she felt sorry for the emperor, because he felt so bad. She told me she wanted to give him a hug so he'd fell better. And then she keeled over. She felt sorry, for you! Well… the other you anyway."

Another slight pause preceded a heavy sigh from Nani. And then the words, "Get away from me 626. I don't wanna' have to see your face. It reminds me too much of hers."

Stitch lowered his head and drooped his ears. Slowly and hesitantly, he walked away, and back into the office.

Nani rested her elbow on the railing of the balcony, and her face in its hand. She looked out onto her bottle of Imperial brand Gin, with the whit silhouette sword-in-anvil on the front. It was only a third full. Now even her anguish and her prayers had to be sanctioned by the empire.

"Please help us." Nani whispered, shaking her head.

As hard as she could, she threw the bottle over the railing and into the crumbling Ah-Ah. The bottle broke and the alcohol burst into flames on touching the glowing rocks. She watched for a few more minutes as the remaining bits of black glass would slowly melt away, and then she drank the last bit that was in her shotglass.

"As if that'll work."

Nani began to turn around only to see another bottle of Imperial brand Gin flying by her face. She turned around and trailed it to the Ah-Ah below, where it shattered and exploded into flame.

"It never hurts to have hope."

Nani turned around and saw that those words had come from Sam standing right behind her. His arms were now in his pockets.

"What'a'you know about hope?" Nani said, and began to walk away, downing her last bit of Gin.

But It soon came to Nani's attention that her shotglass was already empty, so she turned around and threw it too into the Ah-Ah, before turning back and storming away.

* * *

Note: Any Hawaiian will immediately recognize the significance of Nani throwing the Gin into the Lava. Do you? 


	11. On Our Way at Last

** Review Responses**

**To A. Nonymous:** Well, I tried to tell you twice before that I didn't like what you were doing but, you just didn't seem to be listening.  
Anywho, catatonia is a condition where you shut yourself off from the outside world. You are either unable or unwilling to do anything, including eating and talking, except sit and stare.  
I've been meaning to ask this for a while now. How old are you? 

**To Anonymous but Interested: **You're questions will be answered in later chapters. Although I did say before that I'm generally trying to separate this story from the series except where necessary to make references to it.

**To Baal 626:** You were correct! Throwing a bottle of Gin into a Lava flow is an offering to Pele to either ask that the lava does not come in the way of your house or, less usually, to ask for her help in some matter of life.

**To Xoxerguy:** Two words, emotional involvement! I'm not above resorting to such tactics just to get my readers emotionally involved in a story. As for your second question, what the hell kind of writer would I be if I had the emperor win!

**Note:** This is kind of the second half of the last chapter, which I simply didn't have enough time at that moment to write. This will be fairly short, but the next few chapters will both be quite long, and full of action.

**And now for a little teaser:** Imagine for a moment, the final climactic confrontation between Stitch and the Emperor. Now imagine, you've just finished reading that scene, it was awesome! It was slightly disturbing. But most of all, you can't scratch the feeling that there was something familiar, not about anything that actually happened in that scene, but just in its general style and atmosphere. Suddenly it hits you! This guy has probably watched Kill Bill just one too many times.

* * *

Sam Winnfield walked up to the balcony and leaned against the railing. He looked down at the slowly tumbling flow of a'a. At its sides was plain black dirt for several feet, and then, grasses and trees. It seemed wondrous how plants could grow less than ten feet away from thousand degree rock. The rain had been several hours away by now, and the heat in the lava was beginning to pick up again, and the a'a was now tumbling over itself a bit quicker and easier than it was only half an hour before. Whatever trouble was on his mind, Sam could just stare at that lava and forget it all, at least for the moment.

Unfortunately the moment has a funny habit of not lasting very long, and Sam realized he had to go back inside to boss people around because his little rebellion seemed to have no sense of direction without his presence.

Sam sighed. He looked out at the lava one more time and then turned around and headed back in. Sam walked through the office to the balcony, and back into the lobby.

"Ih!"

Sam felt a tugging at his right pant leg and looked down to see Stitch staring back up at him worriedly.

Sam didn't ask what was wrong, but looked at Stitch with one eyebrow raised as if expecting Stitch to tell him without being asked. It took Stitch a little while to realize what Sam was doing, but when he did, he looked and pointed forward.

Sam followed the direction of Stitch's talon toward a young rebel member kneeling over. Lilo was next to him holding up an M4 Carbine to her shoulder and looking through the scope on top. The rebel guided Lilo's hands through the various moving parts of the carbine while speaking to her closely. Lilo's face was cold-sober as she learned how to work the safety, unload and reload the clips, adjust the ROF (rate of fire) and detach and reattach the accessories from her stranger teacher.

Stitch was frightened slightly at the way Lilo handled the carbine. Only nine years old, she was clumsy at first, but soon it looked as if she had been doing it all her life. From the look on her face, it seemed as if she was truly ready to kill someone.

Stitch looked back up at Sam. His face was pleading a thousand different questions, but all he could get out was a whimper. Still, Sam seemed to get the idea.

"I couldn't believe the way she looked at me." Sam said to Stitch, his eyes on Lilo the whole time. "Her face was… I knew that face. It's the face of someone who's seen too much carnage, and has never been able to completely get over it."

Sam and Stitch watched for a minute more as Lilo was now just barely getting used to detaching and reattaching the shoulder stock.

Sam continued. "It's strange. It usually takes much more than being in just one firefight to bring out that face in someone. I suppose it's because she's only a child, and much more impressionable. But a child still shouldn't have that face. A child should have to worry more about things like bug stings, dirty clothes and, sneaking bites to eat when nobody else is looking."

Sam paused and they continued to watch as Lilo as she was now learning to use a snapped off and trimmed tv antenna to clean out a jam in the breach of the gun.

Sam continued. "I remember the first time Nani looked at me like that. It was after she led the attempt to retake Kokaua. That was before we knew just how adept the emperor's troops really were. Her entire team was slaughtered right before her eyes. She barely made it out with her own life."

Lilo was now learning how to do a rudimentary cleaning job with a can of compressed air.

"Part of that little girl is still inside that battle, and it always will be. She will never be able to bring herself entirely out of it."

"Will Lilo be okay?" Stitch asked quietly.

Sam paused before answering. "Yes. She'll be okay. Though she may never get over what she experienced, she may learn to live with it. In time, with a little help, she may even learn to be happy again, though for much different reasons than she once was, much simpler reasons."

"Gaba?"

Sam looked at Stitch, and spoke directly to his face this time. "It will be things like having a roof over her head, hot and cold running water, clean clothes, a regular supply of food, and people that care about her."

People who cared about her. Stitch drooped his ears and let his mouth hand open. He knew Sam was talking about him.

"Those are the things she will treasure when this is all over. All other matters will become secondary to her."

"What about Nani?" Stitch asked.

"Nani?" Sam answered. "Nani's already too far gone to ever be happy again. Nothing can help her now."

_POW!_

A shot rang out. Sam and Stitch jolted toward the sound. Lilo was on the floor in shock. Her now smoking carbine rested in her lap. It seemed the one thing she wasn't taught about was hair triggers.

Sam and Stitch looked forward of Lilo to see Nani standing in a doorway to the lobby. Her teeth and fists were clenched and her eyes were open as far as they could go. The undeniable red splatter was right in the center of Nani's diaphragm.

"Nani! They were just blanks!" yelled out the man who showed Lilo how to handle his gun.

Lilo continued to sit and stare at Nani in shock. The man knelt over and grabbed Lilo by the shoulders.

"It's okay. You didn't hurt her. It's only paint."

Nani gnarred loudly and then turned around and walked out of the room again.

Lilo looked up at the man with his hands on her shoulders, and then behind her.

She saw Sam and Stitch looking at her. Stitch began to walk forward toward Lilo, but Lilo jerked her shoulders free of the man's grip, stood up and ran off clutching the carbine to her chest.

Stitch motioned toward Lilo, about to run after her himself, but stopped as he heard-

"No Stitch."

Stitch Looked behind his shoulder to see Sam shaking his head at him.

"Let her go." Sam said. "She needs to be alone right now.

Stitch lowered his head and whimpered.

* * *

Stitch was back out on the familiar balcony looking out over the lava flow. The lava had now heated up to the point of being gooey liquid rock on the inside, with a black crumbly crust outside. The Glowing inside would show up through the cracks or when a piece of the crust broke off and began to tumble over. The lava was now somewhere between the crumbly a'a' and the flowing pahoehoe. This kind of rock the Hawaiians had no name for, even though they should, as it was the most mesmerizing of them all.

It seemed everyone went here when there was something wrong, and Stitch could understand why. The lava had a hypnotic effect on him. Whatever he was thinking, whatever he was feeling, staring into the flowing lava seemed to make it all fade away into nothing. Eventually, not even the realization of self would exist anymore. There was only the lava, and it seemed perfect in its logic and order.

It wouldn't take much to bring one's attention back to reality. A distant crashing sound managed to do that with Stitch.

Stitch looked up at the sky. It was a cloudless night. The moon was set at the very center of the sky. It was only mid-evening when Stitch last came out to the balcony. That was the power of lava for you.

Stitch went inside and looked around to see what had caused the crash.

A small pile of boxes shoved carelessly into the corner of the room had fallen over. They spilled old junk radios and radio parts over the floor.

Stitch walked up to the scrap and kicked one of the pieces against the wall. It hit the wall and fell over again with a clank-clank.

Stitch looked up. Everything was dark. Everything was quiet. Except for the watchmen patrol everyone must've gone to bed by now.

Normally silent over the commotion of talking and unpacking. Stitch could now hear the distant drops of water from leaking pipes, the soft rumbling of the diesel generator in the basement, the whirring from rooms with unbalanced air pressure, and the squeaking of tiny animals in the walls.

Stitch walked out of the office back into the lobby. It was totally black, at least to a human. There was just enough light in the room to allow Stitch to see everything as flat blue silhouettes. There were still boxes piled everywhere, but the place at least looked like someone was living there. Guns hung up on hooks on the walls next to MRE's piled on the shelves and various maps and reports scattered messily on tables.

Rummaging through a pile of worn clothes at a side of the room drew Stitch's attention.

Stitch walked up to the pile and sniffed. The scent was fresh. Human female, mid fifties, or possibly late sixties but in very good health, but she wasn't in a very healthy state of mind, certainly no condition to hold any place in a rebellion. She had been in the pile of clothes less than a minute ago.

A refugee. Sam insisted on taking them along when he found them, even though they did nothing but take up space and use up food. Sure they would do chores, but the rebels were all just as capable of that.

Another rummaging through the papers on the table on the other side of the room. Stitch turned around and began walking toward it, quickly at first, but then he slowed down as he got closer.

"Hello?" Stitch called out.

He went to inspect the table. There was no movement. It was too dark here even for Stitch to see.

Stitch blinked his eyes, and they opened glowing red.

As soon as he opened them, he saw the short old woman hiding beneath the desk jump out at him.

Stitch was too startled to do anything but fall over as the woman practically jumped on top of him and scooped him up into her arms. The woman cried out loud into Stitch's chest as she would stroke his head too hard for comfort.

"Why did he do it Stitch!" She wailed into Stitch's ear. "Charlie was only thirteen! Why did they take him away!"

"Naga nota!" Stitch shouted back as he struggled against the woman's grasp, trying to break free without using his strength as he knew that would hurt her. "Naga nota! Let Stitch go!"

Stitch finally wriggled his way out of the woman's arms and dashed out of the room, leaving her to crawl back underneath the desk, muttering incoherently.

Stitch wandered some time more through the observatory, using his infrared vision to try and find a silhouette through the walls that was just the right size and shape. He finally found it, but in a closet?

Stitch opened the door to the closet and saw Lilo sleeping inside, covered in dirty camo jackets, and still holding onto her carbine like most children would hold onto a teddybear.

Stitch walked inside the closet and closed the door behind him. He crawled underneath the pile of jackets until he was right behind Lilo, and then reached his arms around her. Lilo squirmed, shivered and groaned at the touch, holding her gun tighter. Stitch was not ignorant to this. He pulled back his paw and rubbed it against the thick fur on his chest several times, and then brought his paw to Lilo's face. Lilo took a deep breath and immediately began to relax. Even in her sleep she could recognize Stitch's smell. Though she no longer squirmed or groaned, she still shivered. Stitch extended his other two arms and wrapped them tight around Lilo. He blinked and his eyes returned to black, and then he closed his eyes. In a few minutes, he too was asleep.

* * *

It was well into the next afternoon when Lilo and Stitch emerged from the closet, both smelling like dirty laundry. Lilo's face was dirty and her hair unkempt. She had her gun slung over her shoulder. Stitch didn't look too much better.

They walked side by side down the halls, never speaking to, or looking at each other. They turned a few times, drawing stares from everyone they passed. They'd learned to ignore this by now. They finally made their way to the main lobby of the building. This was where breakfast was usually served, and there was quite a crowd in the room today.

Strangely, none in the room seemed concerned with eating. They were all gathered around the only twenty four inch tv in the entire complex.

Lilo tried shoving her way through the crowd to no avail. Stitch smacked his face at her attempts.

"Gaba?" Stitch spoke out loud.

The whole crowed turned to face him.

"Let Stitch and Lilo see."

The crowd parted to let Lilo and Stitch walk up to the very front of the TV and sit down. On it was video of some fantastic parade in an unknown city. Huge floats and even huge marches cascaded down the street. The air was filled with balloons, silly string and colored tissue paper. Marching bands played the most distastefully patriotic tunes imaginable. None of them could be recognized, but they were clearly patriotic.

"What is it?" Lilo asked.

"Footage from last years bon fire."

Lilo turned around to see a short bearded man with a pot-belly had said this.

"What bon fire?" Lilo asked.

"It's one of the emperor's stranger quirks."

Lilo turned the other way to see Sam had answered her this time.

"Every year he has one in city Hawaii zero one, also called Capitol City. It lasts all day. It's like mardi-gras. The bonfire is the finale at midnight, usually reaching two stories high. It's fueled entirely by peoples' left shoes. No one's ever been able to figure out why he does it."

Lilo and Stitch looked at each other smiling. They were the only one's there who actually did know why the emperor would ever do such a thing.

"The next bonfire's scheduled to take place three days from now."

"Hey!" A young woman in the crowd suddenly shouted out. "Maybe we can get Stitch to go there!"

Stitch, Lilo and Sam all looked up at the young woman.

"I mean." She continued. "Everyone in the empire's gonna be watchin the bonfire. And if Stitch and the emperor are seen in the same place, all hell'd break loose out there!"

"And would that necessarily be a good thing?" Sam interrupted. "If that happened, the emperor would probably become even more ruthless and paranoid. He'd probably form inquisitions to hunt down anyone suspected of working for his evil twin."

"Evil?" Lilo interrupted.

"Well…" Sam answered. "That's what he would call it."

"What about reconnaissance?" another young man spoke up from the crowd. "If Stitch really does have all the powers of the emperor-"

"He does!" Lilo shouted at him, hugging Stitch in the process.

"Ih!" Stich added in. "Anything emperor can do, Stitch can do."

"So." The young man continued. "He would be the perfect spy!"

"But what would there be to spy on," Called out another voice from a distance away. "the magic doctor?"

Everyone turned around. Nani was in the back of the room leaning against the side of the doorway.

"And how do we know Stitch isn't working for the emperor anyway?" Nani finished.

The crowd went silent. Everyone stared at Nani angrily. How dare she say such a thing about their savior! But there was no use arguing with her point. Logically, they knew what she said was more likely than any other answer. But still. How dare she say such a thing about their savior!

Nani was unmoved by the crowds glaring.

"You know Nani." Sam interrupted. "When all other options have been wasted, I'm willing to take some things on a leap of faith."

"In my experience, faith'll only ever get you one place, killed!" Nani shouted back.

Sam sighed and looked down to find Lilo staring back up at him.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"Who's the magic doctor?" Lilo asked.

"The magic doctor? Supposedly the man who lives in the great pyramid in Capitol City."

"Great pyramid?"

"It's a giant steel pyramid in the middle of Capitol City with no windows and only one door. Only the emperor and his escorts are ever seen going in and out of it. The magic Doctor is supposed to some alien scientist made a slave by the emperor. He's supposed to have invented all of the empire's weapons. I believe you already know his name."

"Jumba Jookiba." Lilo and Stitch both whispered simultaneously.

They looked up at Sam who nodded and smiled at them.

"Jumba! That's it!" Lilo shouted. "If anyone knows how to beat the emperor it's him!"

Murmurs were heard through the crowd, now paying more attention to Lilo and Stitch's conversing than to the video. Quite a few gasps of, _there really is a Jumba Jookiba?_ could be heard coming from them.

"And how could you figure that?" Sam asked.

Lilo raised her hand and opened her mouth. About to speak out, Stitch butted in before she could.

"Jumba build Stitch!"

The crowed gasped again. Murmers were sent flying from person to person. Sam just stared at Stitch with one eyebrow raised.

"That's why the emperor calls himself 6-2-6!" Lilo shouted. "He's Jumba's experiment 6-2-6!"

"Experiment…" Sam said. "As in, genetically engineered?"

"Ih!" "Yes!" came from both Stitch and Lilo's mouths at once.

"Okay okay!" Nani hollered from across the room and walked toward the crowd. "Let's all assume just for assumptions sake that everything you're saying is true. How do we know Jumba'll cooperate with us? Huh? Especially if he created the emperor, as you claim."

"Again Nani." Sam spoke up. "When all other options have been wasted, I'm willing to take some things on a leap of faith."

Sam looked back at Stitch and smiled. "The bonfire celebration should provide the perfect cover for Stitch to sneak into the Pyramid, and with the costumes people wear to that thing, it won't be hard to disguise him. The pyramid won't be hard to find either, since the parade will circle right around it. Now all we need Stitch, is a camera, for you to record what you find there."

"You are an idiot Sam you know that!" Nani screamed at him.

Sam coolly turned toward Nani with an arrogant smirk on his face, adjusted his shades and said, "I probably am."

* * *

**Another Note: **I've decided to discontinue writing Gems of Tomorrow until I'm finished with Empire of the Pacific. This is so I have maximum time to build up inspiration for what I'm going to write in that story. I'm also going to reopen my dialogue with Ri2 and Bluefox to help me with that inspiration. Hopefully, when I get around to continuing that story, it won't be quite as campy as the previous chapters. 


	12. Marching Band from Hell

**Review Responses**

**To Bluefox Gantu's Lover and Mate: **How can I respond to someone who posted twenty reviews for me in less than one day? I can't, other than, thank you. I think I've just got a new favorite fan.

**To Xoxerguy:** You know, I do have limits as to just how cinematic I make my stories.

**To Prominence Flair: **Great to hear from you! I have plans for my grand finale at which is still quite a few years away, and I need as large a fanbase as possible for me to pull it off with the kind of grandeur I want.

* * *

Everything was abuzz in Hawaii-01, in Capitol City. Capitol City was larger than Honolulu, though constructed in a similar fashion to the now overhauled Kokaua. All the buildings were identical, were plain square, plain white, and labeled only with a number and a function. But they were all much bigger than the ones in Kokaua. The plain buildings were a city block in area, and each a hundred and twenty stories high. The city was designed like a French garden, obsessed with perfect symmetry and a tribute to control over nature. As seen from the air, the city would look like a spreading curtain of suburbs, narrowing upwards into the long, wide band of commercial buildings, complete with giant tapestries depicting pacific imperial glory hanging from them, and light shows to dazzle the eyes of die hard Vegas goers. Beyond that was a regal fractal pattern of stylized buildings, domes, pyramids, great glass towers, odd shapes adorned the scenery, and the gargantuan pure white palace of columns, domes and spires at the end, where the Emperor called home, was like an attempt at turning the US Capitol Building into a piece of modern art.

Today was a very special day. The balconies of all the buildings were packed with onlookers throwing colored tissue paper, silly string, and various articles of clothing into the streets below. The air was so filled that it seemed as if it were snowing a rainbow of colors. The streets were filled to the brim with screaming, hollering, wailing fans of the pacific empire. Each one dressed in a bizarre costume just as different as any of the others. Beads, feathers, makeup, jewelry, drag, bones, hair permed in every shape and color known to man. The crowd cried out in ecstasy at what they saw in the streets.

The parade was thousands of men marching in perfect formation down the main sixteen lane street of Capitol City. The men dressed in solid black leotards with unbuttoned flowing white robes all had deep blue skin and hair. Their noses were flat, their eyes solid black, and elfin pointed ears.

In the first march the blue men all spun their plasma carbines in perfect synchronization. On the outskirts of the parade, the blue men would walk about the crowd and shake hands with the nearly awol crowd, patting the heads of children as they went, and signing cereal numbers like A25-K17-G91-J33 onto the eager pages of autograph seekers.

The second march of blue men were dressed gold on gold tuxedoes with gold top hats. They were the marching bands, carrying horns, clarinets, trombones, tubas, drums, and cymbals. They played their marching band music that would either inspire the greatest upwelling of nationalistic and patriotic pride, or send you hurling your guts out at the sheer superfluous tedium of it all.

Somewhere in the wild crowd surrounding the parade was what looked to be a small child clad in rainbow leather and a tiki mast with a plain brown fedora trying to worm his way through the maze of people to get a glimpse of the parade on his Imperial brand digital camcorder.

But before the camouflaged Stitch could reach the front of the crowd something had grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. Stitch looked through his tiki mask to see Lilo looking back at him in the bizarrely plain dress of a gray sweatshirt and blue sweatpants. She smiled at Stitch softly.

Lilo! It was Lilo! She wasn't supposed to be here! She was supposed to be back at the headquarters waiting for his return. How did she get here? That didn't matter right now, she was putting herself in needless danger.

Stitch grabbed Lilo by the hand and dragged her back through the crowd into a back alley where the only things were garbage and garbage cans, and the only people were sleeping bums.

Lilo jumped at Stitch and wrapped him in a tight hug.

"I thought I lost you in that crowed." Lilo yelled out just barely loud enough to be heard over the screaming crowd and the playing of the marching bands.

Stitch pried Lilo's hands off of him and put his own hands on her shoulders.

"Lilo not supposed to be here!" Stitch yelled back. "Too dangerous! Sam say too dangerous!"

"I don't care! I'm never gonna' leave you! I don't care how dangerous it is!"

"Lilo could die!"

"Don't worry!"

Lilo smiled and winked at Stitch. She pulled up he shirt only half way, reached her hand underneath it, and pulled out what looked like a compact mp5 submachine gun. Lilo winked at Stitch again.

"I'm packing heat!"

Lilo hid the gun back in her shirt.

What the hell was she doing! She brought a gun to a place like this! In front of a parade of the same creatures that made up the emperor's army! Couldn't she understand what she was doing? If she showed a gun in a place like this, in front of people like this, she would be killed for sure, or even worse! She couldn't understand such a thing. She simply acts on what she first thinks might be a solution without seriously thinking about whether or not it will work. Maybe she was ready to kill, but she was clearly still a child.

In the blink of an eye, Stitch reached up into Lilo's shirt. She screamed. Stitch pulled out Lilo's gun and tore it in half with his bare hands. Lilo began to cry.

"Why did you do that!" Lilo screamed, hitting Stitch in the shoulders.

How could he explain such a thing? Not thoroughly, considering he still didn't have a full grasp on the English language. He had to settle for something basic.

"Lilo show gun; parade attack; Lilo die!"

Lilo lowered her head and tears began to well up in her eyes. Despite the crudeness of Stitch's words, she seemed to understand just what kind of mistake she just made.

"I'm sorry." Lilo said just barely loud enough to be heard over the parade.

"Don't be." Stitch tried to reassure her with his hands on her shoulders. "Just stay close to Stitch."

Stitch grabbed Lilo by the arm and they both headed back into the crowd. They shoved and writhed their way through the impossible mass of bodies, all the while trying not to be noticed. Stitch was trying not to let his mask or hat fly off, revealing himself.

At last Lilo and Stitch reached the front of the crowd, and looked out over the parade. Now the floats started to come by. A voice like an overzealous rock station DJ boomed over the crowed from speakers mounted on the buildings.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Let's see! Let's see! Who's the first to greet the us here at the third annual Imperial Pacific Bonnfire, proudly brought to you by your own westward footware!

"Yes! Oh yes! Here they are! One, two, three, all four of them! Their they are! The future of the Pacific empire! They are the brightest, the hottest, the most loyal, and the plain best youngsters in all the Pacific Empire. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why they are the Emperor's chosen children!"

The float passed by. It was massive. It was all stained glass in so many bright blues, reds and silvers. The float was a red stairway surrounded by blue columns ending in a great silver thrown upon which sat four little girls all in gold tiaras and red robes and capes all lined with white fur. The four girls waved and blew kisses into the crowed eliciting cheers and whistles from all. They were very familiar to both Lilo and Stitch.

"Myrtle!" Both Lilo and Stitch shouted out in unison.

"Elena! Yuki! Teresa!" Lilo screamed and her jaw dropped as the float passed right by her.

As Myrtle stood up to wave at the crowd with both hands she looked down and caught sight of Lilo. Their eyes locked. Myrtle's shock was even greater than Lilo's. For a moment, all the noise of the parade and the crowd seemed to go silent, and the world went in slow motion as Lilo and Myrtle passed by each other.

The float would eventually move on beyond Myrle's vision of Lilo, but she would continue to stare back until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Myrtled jumped and turned around to see Teresa looking at her curiously.

"What's the matter?" Teresa asked.

Myrtle paused and blinked before answering. "I thought I just saw a ghost."

"Let's hear it for the future generation of the Pacific Empire!" The voice boomed out over speakers.

Lilo continued to stare out with the most shocked expression at the stained glass float driving away into the distance. Stitch was busy fishing through his pockets for something. He found it, and pulled out his digital camcorder, opened the side monitor, and began recording the parade.

The stained glass float drove off into the distance. Another wave of blue men strolled by in three columns. The outside two wore the black skin of the troops' armor without the rigid plates. They marched in perfect formation carrying extra long and silver plasma rifles leaning against their shoulders. The middle column was another marching band clad in their golden tuxedoes.

Lilo was now inched away from these blue men. They all had the same strange face she saw on the troop she pulled the mask off of more than two weeks ago. Seeing these creatures from the distance of the back of the crowd may have been fascinating, but now Lilo was right out front. She was close enough to reach out and touch them. She was close enough for one of them to reach right down and grab her.

Lilo looked up as so many of these blue men walked right by her. Some would even dare to turn their heads to look at her. This was too much. Lilo found herself gasping for breath looking up at those blue men. She began to sweat uncontrollably. She tried to scream but couldn't.

To Lilo, at that moment all she saw were those faces. The noise from the crowd was a blur. The music from the marching bands became like squealing static. It rang in her ears hurting like nothing had ever hurt before. No. Her whole body hurt from that noise, so it couldn't be what she was hearing that caused it.

The faceless, colorless mass of the crowd grew taller. Ten feet. Twenty feet. The buildings leaned over to trap Lilo in a cage like a rat. The blue men stopped their march and turned toward Lilo. At a snails pace they began to walk toward her. Their nails grew to four inches in length as they got closer. Lilo's body was ice cold, except for her chest which was burning hot. Her heart felt like it was going to explode.

Lilo snapped. She turned around and tried to shove herself back through the crowd, back to the alley she came from, or anywhere other than here.

Stitch continued to record the parade from out in front of the crowd. The marching band continued to pass by unnoticing of the spies in their midst. Stitch reached over with one hand to grab Lilo's shoulder, but instead found his hand on the hip of one of the raving fans next to him. In the excitement, the man didn't even notice Stitch's hand on him as he hollered into the crowd. "Long live the Pacific Empire!"

Lilo was gone! Stitch had turned his attention away from her for just a moment and she disappeared. Panic struck Stitch as he had no way of finding her. In this noise, there was no way to single out her voice. In this bustle, there was no way to pick up her scent. A wave of cold ran up and down Stitch's body, standing his fur on end when he realized he wouldn't be able to find her. He had to try anyway.

Stitch closed the camcorder and jumped up onto the head of the same man his hand was on just a moment ago.

"Ah! Get the hell off'a me!"

Stitch ignored the man's raspy yelling and scanned behind the crowd only for a split second before finding his target.

Stitch jumped off of the man just before he clasped his hands over his head, and onto the head of another among the crowd. Stitch jumped from head to head, receiving the same welcome every time, until he was behind the crowd again, in the same alley he pulled Lilo into earlier.

One of the blue men in black suit saw out of the corner of his eye, a small figure with a big blue nub for a tail. He stopped and looked out at the crowd until the soldier behind him walked right into him, and then they both hurried to get back into place.

There she was, curled up into a ball on her side and shivering, pressed up against the plaster wall of the building that sided the alley.

Stitch immediately ran to Lilo and wrapped himself around her like a blanket. Lilolet her head out of her arms and screamed at the top of her lungs. The extreme high pitch was the only thing easily discernable from the parade and the crowd, and made Stitch cringe with the pain in his ears.

Lilo bit down hard on the first fleshy thing she could find that wasn't her own. She was unaware that her teeth couldn't do anything to the flesh of Stitch's wrist, nor that it was Stitch who was holding her, until a voice rang in her ear.

"Lilo! Is okie-taka. Is Stitch."

Lilo looked up hoping to find her fried, but instead just saw a gawking red Tiki for a face. She screamed again and tried to struggle, but to no avail.

Stitch grabbed her by the chin an forced her to look back at him. His mask had been lifted up revealing the face beneath.

Lilo threw her head into Stitch's chest and hollered uncontrollably.

"They're everywhere Stitch! The blue men! Get'em away from me!"

"Naga!" Stitch shouted back. "Blue men all in parade! Only Stitch here with Lilo."

Lilo at last started to calm down. Her veins began to sink back beneath her skin. She closed her eyes and went limp in Stitch's arms. Her breath was still stuttered, and she couldn't stop crying and shivering.

Maybe Lilo was ready to kill, but she was clearly still a child, and the experience of combat was not one that she could take, even after it was long gone.

It was some time before Lilo regained her composure enough to stand and talk by herself.

"We go back up front now." Stitch said to Lilo.

"No!" Lilo shouted back. "I'm not going near those things!"

Stitch caught himself looking back and fourth at the crowd, and then at Lilo, groaning the whole time and his face ablaze with angst.

"Let's follow parade from behind crowd."

"What's that!"

Stitch barely had time to finish his sentence as Lilo pointed up at another parade float.

This one was made of marble, or at least what looked to be marble. It was a huge rectangular wall of columns resembling an old Greek palace without the roof. Right in the center was a massive marble chair. In the chair sat a proud waving someone dressed in flowing white robes and a crown of olive branches on his head. He too, was someone very familiar to Lilo and Stitch.

"And here comes the biggest man in body, and the second biggest in heart!" Shouted out the voice from the speakers yet again. "I have yet to see such loyalty and devotion as his. He's been by our side, by the emperor's side since the beginning. His faith in our highness' power and wisdom has never wavered a millimeter. He is the very symbol of what it means to be a citizen of our Pacific Empire. Let's give a big welcome to emperor's very own inspiration, the great Count Gantu!"

The crowd erupted in unanimous cheer greater than ever before at the new float. Gantu bowed repeatedly to his applause as he was showered with flowers thrown from the audience.

In the middle of all this, some teenage girl in pigtails ran out into the parade itself. She ran right toward Gantu's float.

"Gantu! Marry me! I love you!" Was all she could get out when one of the blue men picked her up and carried her over his shoulder, kicking and screaming, backto the crowd.

Gantu, gave a single silent chuckle to himself as he watched this happen.

The float was large enough even for Lilo and Stitch in the back of the crowd to get a clear glimpse at it.

"Gantu!" Lilo shouted out. "Gantu works for the emperor!"

"Eegada Queesta!" Stitch added in.

Lilo climbed atop Stitch's shoulders to look out at Gantu's mock-marble float as it passed into the distance. Lilo and Stitch stared at it in disbelief for as long as they could. No one in the parade noticed them, which was a good thing.

Gantu's float now just a blur in the distance, Lilo turned to look at the parade right in front of her. It was another wave of those blue men. These ones all wore tight fitting blue spandex with full sleeves and turtlenecks. Their hair was grown out long, unlike the inch long spiked hair of all the others. These ones did not march but flipped and cartwheeled and leapt their way down the street like acrobats.

A sudden wave of uneasiness swept through Lilo as she watched these men. It was not the full blown panic attack that came when she was only inches from them, but it was enough to cause her to fall down off of Stitch's shoulders.

Luckily Stitch caught her just before she hit the ground. A chill sent down Lilo's spine made her shiver quickly, which made Stitch squeeze her a bit tighter for the moment.

"I am not going near those things." Lilo told Stitch.

Stitch only nodded his head in approval at her comment.

The two of them stood there for a few minutes, leaning against the wall of the giant building, leaning against each other, trying to drown out the noises they heard. This peace would not lest when suddenly…

"And here it is! The man you've all been waiting for!" The voice cried out again from the speakers. "He is our master! He is our savior! He is a true lover of all his islands and their peoples! His strength is incalculable, but his hands are the gentlest in all of Hawaii! His voice is the teacher of all wise men! His arms are the cradle for all children! To see him is to love him! He is ours! We are his! Let us all welcome Emperor 626!"

"There he is!" Lilo gasped out.

The crowd roared like nothing before as a new float approached. This one must've been three times larger than any of the others. The entire thing was one big staircase of flowers of so many colors. Atop the staircase was a chair made of flowers. Standing on the chair, waving to he crowd with all four hands was Empeor 626.

The emperor wore a tight red suit. But not any suit, this was the same red uniform given to him by the wardens of the Federation penitentiary that once held him. Once that uniform was prison issue, now it was regal. Draped across only one side of him was a cape of velvet, red outside, and yellow inside. Atop his head he wore a deep maroon napkin folded in the style of a bishop's spire.

The crowd called out to Emperor 626 with words of praise and worship. The emperor responded with waves and kisses.

This stopped for a brief moment when Emperor 626 was confronted by a group of raving teenage girls screaming at him.

"I love you 626!" "I want you!" "Be mine forever!"

Emperor 626 grinned to himself for a moment. He then winked at, and pointed to, the single most scantily clad of the teenage girls in the group. She fainted on the spot.

The songs of the marching band quieted to a drumbeat. This signaled the Emperor to face the crowd at large and hold out all four of his arms as if waiting for a hug. What he received was that, like a wave, the crowd clenched their hands into fists, and raised their arms above their heads bringing their fists together. In unison they all shouted, "RECLAIM!" Emperor 626 responded with a very enthusiastic "EVERMORE!" and the crowd lowered their arms.

The emperor motioned his paw toward one of the blue men beside the float. The man walked up to the crowd and picked out the hand of a relatively young woman and led her up to the emperor's float.

The look of joy and disbelief on the woman's face was staggering. She could barely walk without falling over. The man led her up the stairway of flowers, and up to the emperor himself.

The woman, tears streaming down her cheeks, knelt down before 626, not daring to look at his face, and him only the back of her hand. The emperor sneered at this, and shoved her hand away. The woman at last looked up with a face heartbroken beyond words, but not for long.

The emperor took off his napkin hat and jumped right into the woman's arms. She was shocked and bewildered. Her breathing was shallow. But slowly, she reached her hand up, and scratched behind the emperor's ear. He let out a soft purr that only she could feel. The woman burst into tears at that moment.

The emperor's unexpected display had unleashed a unanimous _Awwwwwwweeee!_ from the crowd.

The woman now holding Emperor 626 in her arms was in too much disbelief to resist as he hopped out and put his napkin hat back on, or as the blue man led her back down the stairs, back into the crowd she came from.

A small distance away, Lilo continued to stare out from that same back alley, from atop Stitch's shoulders.

"Geeze Stitch!" Lilo said. "Were you always that much of a showoff?"

"Eh, he, he, he, he… Ih." Was all Stitch could say back.

Lilo watched as the emperor's float came closer, and closer, and finally passed right by her. As it did, the crowd swelled so much that it engulfed the alley Lilo and Stitch were trying to hide in. The two of them were dragged into the crowd like victims of riptide. Lilo was pulled off the shoulders of Stitch.

"Stitch!" Lilo screamed out.

"Lilo!" Stitch screamed back.

The inanimate object composed of tens of thousands of raving fans didn't notice their cries as it pulled them farther apart.

Before she knew it, Lilo had been thrust right out front, where she came face to face with the object she swore she would avoid. Lilo was in the arms of one of those blue men in their black soldier uniforms, minus the helmet. Seeing them from a distance made her nervous. Seeing them up close made her lose control, but this was just too much.

The fear running through Lilo's veins was so intense, and then it was gone. Her mind went blank. She lost the ability to feel or think. She froze, stiff as a board, in the arms of this blue man.

"Hello little girl." He said to Lilo in the sweetest voice. He either didn't notice her condition, or didn't care.

"How would you like to meet the emperor?" He finished, tickling her nose with his pointed nail, eliciting no response.

He hopped up onto the emperor's float, walked up the flower staircase, and plopped Lilo down right in front of Emperor 626.

Lilo stared straight into the eyes of the emperor. She was no at all comforted. This was not Stitch. She knew this from his eyes. Stitch's eyes always had the mixed feelings of joviality and anxiety. These eyes were much different. The emperor's eyes showed nothing but an absolute calm, and self-righteousness. This was not Stitch. This was not Stitch. Lilo still couldn't move. Lilo still couldn't think or feel.

Stitch let himself be dragged through the current of the crowd. As much as he hated it, he couldn't do anything for Lilo right now. If he tried to get her, he would risk exposing himself, and then all hell would break lose, and all bets would be off as for what would happen to Lilo. At least this way, she would most likely come out of her experience unscathed, at least physically.

Emperor 626 took of his napkin hat and bowed to Lilo. He then took her hand and kissed it. This drew out another universal _Awwwwweee!_ from the crowd.

After picking a flower from the float and placing it in her Lilo's hair, the emperor replaced his hat and shoved her into the arms of the blue man, who carried her back to the front of the crowd.

Stitch was right there to grab her and drag her away. The emperor continued to accept visitors and show them his affections as Stitch tried to pull Lilo as far away from his float as possible.

Now Lilo was with the real Stitch. She let loose, crying and howling into his chest as he did his best to try to calm her down by rocking her back and forth in his arms.

From that point on, Stitch would follow the parade only from the back. Where the crowd was at its sparsest, the music its quietest, and where there were no floats. It lasted hours, and Stitch had to resort to pick pocketing to find money to buy food from all the wandering street vendors for Lilo and himself.

But the plan worked. The parade let them right to the area of Capitol City made of stylized buildings. At the end was the great pyramid. It wasn't much to look at. It was nothing more than polished steel hexagons skinning the exterior pyramid shape.

Lilo and Stitch sat against the bottom of the pyramid, opposite side of the parade. The sounds were distant now, and there were few things to keep them company other than trashed a foot thick coating of silly string and colored tissue paper on the ground.

"Sam was right Stitch." Lilo barely made whispered out in a raspy voice. "I shouldn't have come with you."

"No sense in wanting to change what you cannot." Stitch responded.

Lilo sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. "So… how are we going to get inside this thing."

Stitch stood up, disturbing Lilo's resting head. He looked up at the pyramid squinted. Stitch's eyes focused so intently that his vision magnified ten fold. Stitch saw what he was looking for. Up at the top of the pyramid were air vents, big ones, one on each face. Those things were large enough to comfortably fit three adults, so he and Lilo should have no trouble crawling their way through it.

Stitch blinked and his vision was back to normal.

"We climb!" Stitch told Lilo.

Lilo nodded, and she clung tightly to Stitch's back as he began his ascent up the sixty-degree slope of the great steel pyramid. Up what had to be eighty stories before he reached the massive air vent toward the tip.

Stitch reached over and tore out the grating of the air vent, and let it fly away in the wind. Stitch threw himself into the vent, and Lilo along with him.

Meanwhile.

Outside the emperor's palace the parade had finally come to a hault. Emperor 626 stood at the steps of his palace with the great Count Gantu on one side of him, and his chosen children Myrtle, Elena, Yuki, and Teresa on the other.

The crowd was now all gathered outside the palace to witness the spectacle. Emperor 626 raised his top hands in the air and a great red tapestry unraveled with the sword in anvil logo stylized into the center. Circling around the logo, the words.

_The Empire of the Pacific Islands. To Reclaim The World. Our rightful Home Evermore._

Emperor 626 spread his arms out.

The crown in unison brought their clenched fists together above their heads and shouted, "RECLAIM!"

The emperor shouted, "EVERMORE!"

The crowd cheered.

Two of the emperor's black sky boats flew in from opposite sides and opened the hatches on their bottoms. One dumped out a hull filled with shoes. The other dumped out a hull filled with ethanol.

The crowd cheered.

Gantu reached behind him and turned back around wielding a gold torch in hand. He handed it into the emperor, who threw it into the pile of alcohol soaked shoes, setting them ablaze.

The crowd cheered.

Then, one by one, everyone was allowed to come up to the pile, take off their own left shoe, and throw it into the bonfire.


	13. The Tortured Face of The Magic Doctor

**Review Responses**

**To A. Nonymous:** I believe the movie you're thinking of is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. And yes, that scene was pretty much the inspiration for chapter 12. The resemblance of the sword in anvil logo to the communist USSR logo was also deliberate.

**To Bluefox:** Uhh... You're not going to like what I did to Gantu for very long. Don't worry, he's not turned pure arch-fiendish evil, but you're still not going to like it.

**To Ovni:** You're questions will be answered in this very chapter.

**To nukerjsr:** I actually thought I made it fairly obvious that Emperor 626 was doing that just to manipulate the crowd. Maybe I didn't.

* * *

For a long time Lilo and Stitch lay in the tube that was the entrance to the air vents atop the great pyramid of Capitol City. Inside was very blue and very, very dark. The distance Lilo could see was just equal to the distance Stitch was away from her on the opposite side of the tube. Hot air blew through tube from inside the pyramid and out the vent making a whirring noise like blowing perpendicular to the top of an open bottle. One may think in an aluminum tube like this it would be torturously musty, but the constant stream of hot air made sure everything was dry, a little too dry for Lilo's tastes. 

For the half hour Lilo and Stitch must've sat there doing nothing in particular, they found that the slightest movement or knock would reverberate throughout the tube, vibrating one's ears, and vibrating one's chest. After about six seconds it would finally travel down the tube away from you. But a minute later, it would travel back up and hit you again, before going right back down the tube. It would do this four times before the vibration became too weak to notice unless you were looking for it, which they were.

Stitch was frightened beyond his wits at just sitting there, though he showed no exterior sign whatsoever. Causing this much racket inside the air vents was sure to draw attention. Said racket was caused only by the slightest repositioning of one's body, or softly tapping on the wall, but it certainly would sound like racket from a distance. Amazingly, the whole time they were sitting there, nothing happened. Stitch considered the possibilities of what might be going on. One possibility was that such horrible noises coming from the air ducts could be caused by many things other than spies crawling around in them, so there would be no point in using the vibrations within them as a kind of alarm trigger. Another possibility was that the emperor or perhaps the architects behind this monstrosity were simply too overconfident to consider arming the air ducts with any kind of security system. The most likely possibility, however, was that they already have set off some sort of security measure, which was simply lying in wait for them to run right into it.

Stitch sighed. His sigh echoed three audible times throughout the tunnel, at least according to his enhanced inner ears. Lilo hadn't even noticed it, as to her the howling of the hot air blowing through the tubes drowned it out.

"I think we should get going." Lilo said. Her voice rippled down through the tubes and then back again many times. The echoing was now painful even to Lilo's ears.

_If we hadn't been noticed before, we sure as are now._ Stitch thought to himself. It was of little use though. If whoever lived here already knew that Lilo and Stitch were there, he'd be expecting them to make their move. It would make no sense to disappoint them now.

"Ih…" Stitch responded. "Get going."

Stitch blinked. His eyes opened glowing bright red. The infrared world he now saw was clear as daylight, only different colors. The walls of the tube were orange from the hot air blowing through them. The tube itself went forward, flat for about ten feet and then forked into an intersection with two smaller, square vents on the side. Those probably just went to the vents on the other sides of the pyramid. Go straight forward and the main vent would turn downward thirty degrees. Stitch felt the aluminum paneling of the vent. It was dry, smoothed to a mirror-like surface and had a slight static build up. Stitch could walk upside down on such a surface without even trying. This was fortunate, because climbing through air ducts were bound to make you have to walk vertically at some point.

Stitch hurriedly took off the now damp costume he wore and threw it out the entrance to the air vent behind them. Only his moist fur clothed him now, and it felt good, as the hot blowing air was quickly drying him off.

"Climb on back." Stitch said. "Stitch carry Lilo through vents."

Lilo nodded her head with a quick jerking motion, and then obeyed. She must've felt more at ease in this situation, now that there wasn't anything immediately threatening them. She showed it by sitting on Stitch's back as if riding a horse, and only her hands on his shoulders to steady her. This display of relative comfort certainly put Stitch at ease, which might not have been a good thing. The steps Stitch took through the vent on all fours were not quite as careful as he had planned in the beginning. Each step sounded like the clanging of metal pipe against metal pipe as the vent would bend outward at the combined weight of Lilo and Stitch, and then back inward when that weight was relieved.

Stitch crawled forward and down the bend of the shaft. The shaft soon leveled out into a circular room intersecting with the other three ducts from the other sides of the pyramid on the ceiling. Beneath each of them was another shaft going down in the opposite direction, back toward the sides of the pyramid.

The air in this room was so dense that both Lilo and Stitch's ears plugged up and they found it difficult to breath. The air was circulating so fast around the circle of a room that neither of them could hear anything. Lilo was shouting out something but the whistling made by the air blocked out her voice even from Stitch.

Stitch didn't hesitate to jump from his position straight into the duct just below the one he came from.

Stitch hit the floor of the duct with what sounded like the sound of a bomb going off. Stitch slid through the duct for several seconds before it occurred to him to stick his hands to the metal to stop himself. He did so. The screeching from his hands stopping his momentum was like a hand rake dragged across a chalkboard in an amphitheatre. The sound rang out in the distance, and then came back to them, and back to them, like a wave in a slinky.

It occurred to Stitch just then that the ducts were probably designed that way. To amplify the noise of anyone who was trying to crawl through them, just so that no one could crawl through them undetected.

The best thing to do now was to find a duct cover and exit into the actual building. It didn't take long to find it.

Stitch kicked off the cover and hopped out onto the floor of a long square hall of featureless steel walls, floors, and a single track light on the ceiling.

Stitch sighed heavily after landing on his butt on the cold steel floor. This had given Lilo quite a jostle, as she fell off of Stitch onto her side as soon as he landed. When finally the both stood up and opened their eyes, Stitch's suspicions were confirmed.

In front of them was a hovering chrome orb about the size of a basketball. Its front had been cut out to fit a tinted glass cover over what both Lilo and Stitch could only assume was a camera.

Lilo immediately hid behind Stitch.

In its dirty mechanical voice, the orb rang out, "Recognize Emperor 626."

The orb spun around Stitch to look at Lilo. Lilo pressed herself against hard against Stitch who had now turned around to face the orb again.

"Unknown human present," The orb continued. "female, pre-adolescent, activating alarm system."

"NAGA!"

Stitch's scream had caused the orb to shoot back toward the wall.

"Do you wish to cancel alarm activated your highness?"

"Ih! Naga alarm. Lilo friend."

"Recording order. Progressive clearance access granted to human female Lilo."

A small slot opened up beneath the tinted glass and a thick plastic card, similar to a half centimeter thick credit card half-ejected out of the slot.

"Please take you security clearance card Lilo." The orb ordered.

Lilo did not move. She just continued to holding herself against Stitch, scarcely looking at the orb floating in front of her. This was not helping, and Stitch knew it. He tried to subtly push against Lilo, hoping that she would step away from him to grab the card that was clearly meant for her, but she didn't.

"Please take your security clearance card Lilo." The orb ordered again.

At the second command, Lilo finally stepped forward just slightly and swiped the card from the chrome orb as quickly as she could before pressing herself back into Stitch.

"What may I do for you, your highness." The orb asked.

Lilo shouted out before Stitch could say anything. "Are there guards here!"

"Negative." The orb responded. "Emperor 626, Dr. Jumba Jookiba, and Lilo are the only subjects with clearance access to the Empire's Pyramid Labs."

Lilo seemed to relax. She now knew none of those blue skinned men would be with her. Maybe there would be more of those things that she was staring at, but by Stitch's orders, she was now a friend. Lilo let go of Stitch and stared curiously at the floating chrome ball.

"Where's Jumba?" Lilo asked.

"I'm sorry Lilo," The orb responded. "but I am not programmed give you that information."

"Where's Jumba?" Stitch asked.

"Dr. Jookiba is presently located in the organic alkalines lab."

"Take us there."

* * *

The single minded mass of people cheered and clapped and whistled all until they just sounded like static. With every emphasized word of the emperor's speech they roared just a bit louder, and settled down again. With every sharp movement the emperor made, many in the crowd would leap up and wave their hands in the air. 

Emperor 626 delivered his speech atop a three story high white column overlooking the bonfire of shoes just twenty meters in front of him. On the left side of the bonfire stood the emperor's chosen children, all with their hands over their hearts. On its right side stood count Gantu poised to use an ornate bow and single arrow in his hand.

Emperor 626 delivered his speech atop his column so very unlike what Stitch would or even could do. In perfect dialectic English.

The emperor shouted out to the crowd with all four arms extended. Nothing that came from his mouth was in the slightest bit true. Everything he said about himself, about his origins, about how he came to be here and what he was doing here now was all just a carefully hatched story for the sole purpose of drama. No one in the crowd knew anything more than what the emperor told them, so they just took him at his word. Only Gantu knew better than to believe the emperor, and he wasn't talking.

"I came to this world to hide from the forces of death and oppression. My people, millions of them, were slaughtered! My homeworld destroyed! We were not even given the dignity of trials! All this just because the powers that be were afraid of our powers. But never once did they consider that we could ever possibly be reasoned with. Never did they ask us to show them that there was something inside us that was good. No! They just took one look at what we were capable of and decided to do away with us! I alone escaped that fate.  
"I came to these islands of Hawaii to hide, and what I saw here was something I thought I had escaped from. You were a conquered and subjugated people! You were all subject to the petty whims and dominance of the mainlanders! The mainlanders in their gold and leather clad offices, not caring about anyone or anything but their own luxury. Where were you in all this! You were their slaves! That's where!I would not stand idly by and watch this all happen. For once in my life I knew I had the ability to fight the oppressors, and so help me God that's exactly what I was going to do!"

The swarm of people roared and cried out in elation at the emperor's words. Each of them scrambled to throw something into the air in celebration. Pieces of their costumes, beads, undergarments, the most entranced of them would even throw their own wallets into the air, never to see them again.

* * *

A thick steel door slid slowly open to a large rectangular room. It was dimly lit, about the size of a high school gymnasium, and littered with tables. The tables were littered with books, computers, containers full of vials and test tubes. Machines sprawled out all against the walls were used for unknowable reasons. The dim light gave the room a reddish tint, and it was uncomfortably cold. Cold enough to see one's breath. 

Side by side, Lilo and Stitch slowly walked in the door, which shut behind them with a loud clang as it hit the wall. Lilo jumped and turned at the sound. Stitch was not at all startled.

Lilo and Stitch surveyed the room. There was nothing in particular that seemed to give away that anyone was there, other than the fact that the place was generally a mess.

Lilo stared off to the side, zoning out just a bit. Stitch continued to look around the room for any signs of life.

"Maka maka! Sasa!"

"Huh?" Lilo turned to see Stitch pointing at the opposite side of the room. She looked. She could see anything. She leaned forward a bit and squinted her eyes.

Movement! That had to mean someone was there, and the person who could be there was Jumba.

Lilo and Stitch quickly made their way to the other side of the lab to get a closer look. As they approached the figure, Stitch brought out his camcorder and started recording.

It was certainly Jumba. But he was in an electric wheelchair. His back turned to them. Lilo and Stitch were only feet away from him and he didn't notice them. There was something wrong with this. Both Lilo and Stitch sensed it, and they both tensed up and slowed down as they approached him. Stitch, however, had a far better idea just how strange this was than Lilo. His sensitive ears could pick up the sound of Jumba's breathing. It was not like breathing at all. It was more like gargling. His nose could pick up what condition Jumba was in. Though physically he smelled fine, well fed and well slept, he reeked of hazardous chemicals and stale blood.

Whatever happened to Jumba, all fears of him being the villain were cast aside, but all new fears took its place.

"Jumba?" Lilo whispered.

The great blob of a man did not even notice his name being spoken. He continued working on whatever he was working on as if nothing happened.

Lilo reached up her hand and knocked on the back of the electric wheelchair. This got Jumba's attention. He lifted up his head, and reached down to the joystick on his armrest to turn the chair around.

"626!" Jumba gasped, and lowered his head, not daring to look into Stitch's eyes, or give away any clue that he would be curious of the little girl next to him.

Jumba was different all right. He was different in ways that made both Lilo and Stitch shudder and feel a wave of cold running down their spines. Jumba's face was a mass of matted scars. Only his two main eyes were open. His secondary eyes were also covered in scar tissue. As for the wheelchair, both of his legs appeared to have been amputated.

"What may I be doing for you 626." Jumba tried to speak loudly, but it was clear he couldn't. His voice was hoarse and raspy, and every sentence he spoke ended in a quiet cough.

"What happened to you?" Lilo asked, walking up to Jumba and putting her hands on the stumps that were once his legs. Jumba's face tightened as he tried his hardest to ignore the girl.

"Please 626." Jumba wheezed out. "Be giving me your commands."

"No commands." Stitch said.

Jumba finally looked up. He seemed puzzled and speechless by what he just heard.

"I am not Emperor 626." Stitch said. "My name is Stitch."

Jumba's face went pale at those words. He shook his head, softly at first, but then harder.

"You are being the imposter!" Jumba screamed, pointing to Stitch.

Jumba looked down at Lilo. He smiled only briefly at her and then scowled before pushing her down. He turned his wheelchair back toward the table he was working on.

Jumba reached his hand down to grab a black plasma carbine strapped by Velcro to the side of his wheelchair, and pointed it at Stitch.

Lilo was still on the floor holding her head, just a bit disoriented. Stitch was too stunned by Jumba's actions to move.

"By orders of 626, you are to be taken prisoner on sight!"

As soon as Jumba finished those words, his elbow bumped into a rack of vials on the table and knocked them on the floor. They all shattered. Blue and brown slimes began to mix together and then poured out a choking black smoke that would quickly fill the room even as large as it was.

Lilo, Stitch and Jumba were hacking and coughing at the smoke. It burned their eyes and their sinuses. They couldn't see a foot in front of themselves. But Jumba would have it be necessary.

"Be climbing aboard mobility device!" Jumba screamed out, barely intelligible with all his hacking and wheezing from the smoke. "I will bring us into lavatory! Is being safer to talk there!"

Stitch didn't even think before acting. He grabbed Lilo in two of his side arms and jumped onto Jumba's shoulders.

It was some time before Lilo or Stitch could open their eyes again. When they did. They found themselves in a small, green tile bathroom with an industrial steel sink and no mirror, built only for one.

Stitch looked down at his top right hand. Thankfully, his camcorder was still recording. He pointed it up at Jumba.

Lilo dared to look up from Stitch at Jumba. His face full of scars, stumps for legs, and missing eyes sent another shudder through her. She held Stitch a bit tighter, seeking comfort from that upsetting sight, not from fear. She remembered Jumba always so jovial and full of excitement. The Jumba she saw now was a sorry, limp water balloon. He would never look right into the eyes of who he was talking to. His face, once always clenched with expression, was now just as limp as the rest of him. His eyes were always half closed, and would never focus on anything except what was right in front of his face. It was as if his spirit was as broken as his body. But one thing he still had was his will. He had to, since it was clear he was trying to help them.

Jumba spoke unusually quietly and smoothly in his scratchy voice. "You are being imposter 626, correct? Who is being younger Terran female?"

Lilo stood up a bit taller, still holding Stitch. "His name is Stitch! I'm Lilo!"

"Names are not mattering. All that is important is where you are coming from, and how you came in service of Hawaiian rebel movement."

Stitch put his arms on Lilo's shoulders. Lilo looked at Stitch who nodded his head. Lilo immediately understood that this meant Stitch could tell their story better than she could. Lilo released her grip on Stitch, who walked slowly and methodically up to Jumba. Stitch took a deep breath and began to speak.

* * *

The horde of imperial loyalists were ablaze with righteous fury as Emperor 626 reached the climax of his speech. The emperor was on his knees, bent over backwards, screaming and reaching into the night sky with tears flowing from his eyes like fountains. The more agony he appeared to be in, the more euphoric and hysterical the crowd in front of his became. 

"Their insatiable greed and malice sealed their fate! That I would see the kinds of things they do to you, the same things done to me so long ago! I would burn these islands clean of the scourge of the mainlander dictatorship!"

At that time, a sprinkler head at front of the column the emperor was standing on would activate, spraying and soaking the emperor with gasoline. It was however, too subtle for the crowd below to notice.

"And I swore they would pay for what they did! And they paid! They paid dearly! But there is still retribution to come! What once the mainlanders dominated you! One day, we will rise up and dominate them!  
"To my children! For those who would dare raise their hand at you, I am the angel of death! For you, through the great inspiration of my dearest Count Gantu, I am your flaming angel of mercy!" 

At that line, Gantu drew back the arrow on his bow, and shot it straight up at the emperor. The arrow flew through the flickering flames of the bonfire, igniting itself on the way, and straight toward the emperor's face. Without even looking, he caught it in his hands, and his whole body was set ablaze in a massive blue flame.

The crowd of people below him went wild like they never have before to see their emperor as a body of fire so high above them.

Before the flames would dry his throat and steal his voice, Emperor 626 thrust his arms toward the crowd below and screamed out. "RECLAIM!"

Everyone in the crowd brought their clenched fists together above their heads and screamed, "EVERMORE!" in response.

* * *

Jumba's wheelchair was now facing the wall as he finally finished listening to the story of Stitch. 

"So you are claiming to be needing time travel device to ensure 626 is to be learning of his capacity to be caring for others, thus preventing his uprising as emperor?"

"You don't believe us." Lilo said. "Do you?"

"Actually, I am believing you." Jumba answered. "Why would I be being able to be reverse engineering time travel device so easily if maching was not of my own design."

"You mean you have it!"

"I am afraid not. After reverse engineering device and learning of its nature, I refused to divulge said information to 626. This accounts for majority of my scarifications in his attempts to loosen my lips. But I will not put such knowledge as time travel in the grasp of a barbaric creature such as 626. I will be building many absurd weapons for him, but never something so incredibly powerful."

"But Jumba create Stitch!" Stitch interrupted loudly. "Stitch supposed to be barbaric!"

Jumba sighed, and turned his chair around to face Lilo and Stitch.

"It was true." Jumba said. "I originally built you, 626, to be perfect evil machine. But my time with myself has been making me be seeing my efforts in different light. I was never truly being evil, just lonely."

"What do you mean?" Lilo asked.

Jumba sighed again before answering.

"I have been discovering in my isolation and torture, the reason I had been creating my experiments to begin with. The life of a genius is being a very lonely one. Others are constantly naming you of freak, villain, psychopath, EVIL! I thought to myself, if they are wanting evil, I will be giving them evil!  
"But that was only reason being for nature of my experiments. Reason being for very creation of experiments… was need for companionship… I did it all wrong. My pathetic shell of body is being result of my self delusionings." 

"But you didn't make Stitch totally evil!" Lilo shouted back at him. "You did put some good in him! I know because I found it!"

"Ih!" Stitch added in. "Lilo find good in Stitch! Stitch good now!"

"Yes." Jumba responded. "As difficult as it is being to believe, I must assume what you say is true, considering Stitch before you right now being is as sweet as puppy dog."

"What happened to Pleakly?" Lilo asked.

"Who is being this... Pleakly?"

"Big noodle man!" Stitch shouted with great expression in his hands. "Only one eye."

"Oh him... 626 found no use for cycloptic sapient. Had him killed."

Lilo and Stitch both lowered there heads at this. Lilo fell down to her knees, constantly on the verge of crying, but never did.

"Was one eyed noodle man being friend?" Jumba asked softly.

"Yes." Both Lilo and Stitch said at the same time. Only Lilo continued to talk. "A very good one." 

After everything that she had seen and heard, strangely it seemed natural to her to hear that Pleakly would've been executed. Such an occurrance, in the midst of all else she had to deal with, seemed only to call for a moment of silence before moving on to other matters. Lilo didn't know whether to feel good about her strength, or horrible about her heartlessness at just wanting to move on. Either way, it seemed the proper thing to do.

"So where's the time board?" 

"Is inside of palace of 626. Is under guard of countless imperial troops."

"Imperial troops." Lilo fluttered her eyes a bit and swallowed. The thought of those things caused her to wince. Stitch was not blind to this, and nudged her face with his nose. Lilo looked toward Stitch just long enough to give him a weak smile.

"What are those things?" Lilo asked Jumba.

"Genetic abhorritions, products of 626's demands for to combine DNAs of human and 626. Troops of 626 are being ten times as agile, and twenty times as strong as ordinary human. They are being programmed for absolute, unquestioning obediance to 626. They are having insurmountable threshold for injury, and feel no pain."

Stitch wrapped his arms around himself. The thought that part of himself was in those things he was fighting made him feel dirty inside.

"But Stitch can get past them right?" Lilo pleaded.

"No. 626 is indeed many times mightier than imperial troop, but not even he can be standing up against hundreds at once."

"What about the other experiments? Can't we get help from them?

"Other experiments?" Jumba closed his eyes and shook his head. "I am being sorry Lilo. 626 had all other experiments destroyed."

"What! Why!"

"He was not wanting them to be competing with him. He was refusing to allow anything to be competing with him."

"What about the federation? Won't they help."

"Hmmmp!… Federation! All federation is being concerned with is keeping 626 away from galactic society! To said effect, they have turned all of Sol system into single gargantuan minefield.  
"And do not be expecting other nations to be helping either. My island point defense systems are being too great. Missiles, torpedoes, planes, boats, submarines, all of them are being blown to smithereens only half way to their destinations. One cannot be sending troops to shore, if shore cannot be being reached." 

"So there's no hope." Lilo slumped onto the floor upon hearing this. She began crying to herself quietly. Stitch wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head in a futile effort to comfort her. But comfort would soon come from Jumba.

Jumba's face suddenly lit up in a way Lilo and Stitch never thought possible for such a tortured man. "There is hope!"

Both Lilo and Stitch looked up confused at Jumba.

"There is being one fatal flaw in my imperial designs. This flaw can be easily taken advantage of, and used to crush 626's empire! Leaving him naked to attack."

"Jumba make flaw on purpose?" Stitch asked.

"Heh, heh, heh. Let it not be said that there is nothing to be said for passive-aggressive revengings!"

Jumba reached down to a leather side-pack strapped to the other side of his wheelchair. He reached in and pulled out a DVD.

"This disk is having said weakness on it. Take it, and be running. Smoke should be beginning to clear now, be using this chance for escaping!"

Lilo snatched the DVD from Jumba and stuck it in the pocket of her sweatshirt.

"Thanks Jumba." Lilo said. "I knew I could count on you."

Stitch closed his camcorder, placed it in his lower right hand, and retracted his lower arms, hiding the camera inside his body.

"Taka Jumba." Stitch said.


	14. Skyboat Blue

Review Responses

To Ovni: I think you're overestimating today's technology. What I described, a system that can perfectly target and wipe out a volley of torpedoes, missiles, planes, subs, or ships from a distance of one quarter the length of the pacific ocean, is so far beyond anything we have today that there's no way anyone could possibly hope to beat something like that anywhere within the next fifty years.

To Bluefox Gantu's Lover and Mate: You haven't reviewed the last four items I submitted. Are you dead? I'm just wondering.

* * *

Outside the bonfire still raged on. Outside the crowd still cheered blindly for their heroes, those the emperor had chosen to be his ambassadors to the public, Gantu, and his chosen children. Outside they were keeping the crowd as loud as they could with stereotypical nationalistic speeches written on the fly by Emperor 626 earlier in the week.

Inside was far quieter. Inside, Emperor 626 could hear the roaring of the crowd and the speeches of his put ups as only a faint undertone, easily drowned out by the automatic piano on the other side of the bathroom playing Beethoven's Sonatina in G major.

The bathroom looked more superfluously expensive than most presidential suits at five star hotels. It was all a huge dome what must've been forty feet across and twenty five feet high. The floors were slabs of a sold black rock polished to a mirror surface and inlaid with gold floral designs the likes of which you may find on the back of a dollar bill. The walls were no less ornate. The polished black stone with its gold inlays rose from wooden floor trimmings five feet before stopping at another wooden trimming. Beyond that was white ceramic beams extending to the tip of the dome. Carved into them were all depictions of Emperor 626 himself as a four-winged angel in flowing white robes wielding swords, reading books, and cradling children. Between these beams were what looked to be stained glass, once again depicting the emperor, but this time in gold robes, using gold paint, as some kind of middle-eastish messiah, but leading the oppressed masses of pacific islanders in their traditional grassy and twine cloth garbs, none of which were truly accurate representations of any traditional outfit of any pacific island. What they really were, were three inch thick diamond manufactured from within Pyramid Labs.

Only the central twenty feet of the bathroom was usable, as only the central twenty feet was paved in the walkable black stone. Ten feet out from the wall was a hilly garden of all kinds of Hawaiian plants from big leafy bushes, to water plants in tiny ponds and streams, to mosses covering small boulders, to extra small, but not quite bonzaid versions of a dozen Hawaiian trees, and bamboo.

There were only three things in the usable portion of the bathroom. There was the automatic baby grand piano of stained red cherry. A three tiered clay fountain opposite the piano could be used for washing hands of getting a drink as the water was filtered. Finally, opposite the stone bridge to the door, there was the huge walk in tub line on the inside with the polished black rock of the floor, but without any gold, so as to make it as smooth as possible.

Emperor 626 stood up unclothed in the tub with one foot of warm water upon his two and a half feet of height. His eyes closed in total relaxation and his top right hand waves about slowly to the music of the automatic piano. This would've been a curiosity only to Lilo and Stitch, as only they knew Stitch detested being wet, but the emperor seemed to be completely at ease with it. Though one might understand it, being what the emperor currently looked like couldn't be pleasant.

Surrounding the tub were three of the emperor's blue skinned, pointy eared soldiers. These ones were dressed in plain white gees and matching pants, and had braided pony tails flowing half way down their shoulders.

On their knees and just barely able to lean over the tub, they busily scrubbed and rinsed away at the emperor's blackened fur to get off all the suit stained within.

The third sat on the rim of the tub and lowered down a silver platter to the emperor whenever the emperor looked at him. Upon the servant's removing the lid of the platter, Emperor 626 would find mounds of coconut strips, cored, sliced, and then toasted pineapple, and strips of Hawaiian beef brisket for him to pick as finger food.

The automatic door slid open and a fourth servant entered carrying a second silver platter. He sat down on the rim of the tub opposite the servant with the platter of finger food, opened the platter and set the lid on the floor.

This platter was much less decorated than the first. It only had two items on it. They were two bamboo cups, one had a diagonally cut top and was the size of a pitcher, the other was like a shot glass. From the larger cup, the servant poured steaming Sake into the smaller, and handed it to the emperor, who downed it in less than a second, and came to shivering his back only slightly at the feeling of the Sake running down his throat, slowly giving back the voice that was taken from him in his display of permanence against fire.

Emperor 626 handed his cup back to the servant, who swiftly refilled it and handed it back. The emperor inhaled deeply the scent of the Sake before putting the cup to his lips, but before he could turn the cup to pour it down his throat, the automatic door opened again, and two more of his blue minions walked into the room.

This was a bit startling to Emperor 626, and a bit confusing as well. These ones were soldiers, he could tell because they were bald, and dressed in the black skin found beneath a soldier's armor.

They both knelt before him as they approached. One rose and spoke.

"Your highness. Communications observations within Pyramid Labs has found that your facsimile and an infant human girl have penetrated Pyramid Labs defense and are freely roaming about inside. Comparisons show this to be the same girl we found in during our raid of the rebel hideout on Kauai a little under a month ago."

Emperor 626 stared at the soldier blankly for a few seconds. The soldier stared right back. The emperor blinked twice before regaining his composure.

In his hoarse and raspy voice, Emperor 626 replied in only a whisper. "Why didn't the biometrics detect this earlier?"

"It would seem your highness, that your facsimile has your biometric signatures on top of your appearance."

The emperor drank his second cup of Sake and turned his head away deep in thought. His servants continued their washing and feeding as if oblivious to what was happening.

"With your permission your highness," the soldier asked, "we would like clearance for eight squads to enter Pyramid Labs and look for them."

Emperor 626 handed his cup back to the servant on his left and turned toward the soldier smiling.

"Lower your face to mine." The emperor ordered.

The soldier did as he was told.

With the flash of a movement, the emperor drove his hand, claws extended, straight through the throat of the soldier in front of him. It was done so quickly that not a movement or a sound was made by the soldier except for the _vhirscht_ of the hand chopping through muscle, bone, and spinal cord.

The soldier dropped to the floor when the emperor pulled his hand back out, and the servants were quick to take the hand and wash away the blood.

The second soldier, seeing the first one dead on the floor from the corner of his eye, at last rose to speak to the emperor himself.

"See to it that the flaw in that one is found." The emperor whispered without looking at the second soldier. "And see to it that all others who carry that flaw are destroyed."

"Yes your highness." The soldier responded with a slight bow. "About the intrusion at Pyramid Labs."

"Place three squads at every exit and wait for them."

"Yes your highness." The soldier said with another bow.

He then left, carrying the dead soldier on his back.

The servants continued washing Emperor 626. He was handed another cup of Sake and drank it a bit more slowly than the last two times. The automatic piano finished playing its song and paused for a few seconds before starting up on Tchaikovsky's the Seasons, January.

* * *

The plain hallway was much like the last one, which was much like the one before that, and so on. Always square, ten feet on a side, with a single rail of full spectrum track lighting on the ceiling. At every intersection of four hallways, Lilo and Stitch would find a camera panning around in the gap in the track lighting directly in the center of the intersection.

"We've been wondering forever." Lilo whispered.

Stitch gave no reaction.

They haven't really been wondering forever, but close enough. They'd been at this, trying to find a way out for at least a half hour, maybe forty five minutes. It was hart to tell even for Stitch, not even he was built to be a living clock. Though he could if he tried, he gave up at twenty four minutes, seventeen point six one seconds.

For a time they tried their luck in the air shafts. No luck there, the ventilation systems inside the Great Pyramid were at least five times as complicated as the hallways.

_Another defense against air vent intruders_, thought Stitch.

The change of steel to copper color in the shape of an eight foot vertical rectangle with curved edges was the only thing giving away the presence of a door. There wasn't even a line; it was built that perfectly.

Lilo stopped to look at the door, though Stitch kept going.

"Let's try this one!" Lilo shouted out.

"Naga open." Stitch replied as he continued along, not even looking back at Lilo.

"How do you know!"

Stitch stopped and sighed. "Naga open. No other door open."

"Well just try it OK?"

Stitch took a deep breath and quickly tensed and relaxed his shoulders. "Okeytaka." He said with the feeling of tedium.

Stitch turned around and walked up to the door. Nothing happened.

"See." Stitch said in kind of a grumble. "Naga open. Let's go."

"Well maybe you could break it."

_Break it? Break it! Why the hell didn't I think of that before!_

Stitch slapped his face at his stupidity and dragged his claw down till it fell off his chin.

As soon as he recovered, Stitch did not hesitate to plunge his claws into the doorway and tear it off. It took quite a while, as tearing off a door so much bigger than you were took that long no matter how strong you were, or else you might simply tear a small hole in it.

The noise was horrific. It was like a combination of a tree splintering and a rake being dragged across a chalkboard, the volume magnified ten fold. Lilo dropped to the floor and held her ears as soon as she began to hear this. Even through her fingers, it was painful enough to make her grit her teeth.

To Stitch's ears this was even worse. He swore that blood would drip from his ears at any moment of he kept it up, but he kept it up. He kept it up until the door was held above his head and ready to be thrown across the room, and it was.

Lilo slowly lifted herself to her feet and stumbled her way to Stitch, finally catching his attention when she fell over his shoulder.

"Soka…" Stitch whispered with his ears hanging down.

Lilo at last regained her composure and shook her head. They walked into the room side by side.

It was identical, at least in blueprints, to the organic alkaline lab that they had found Jumba in. In the center was four large black boxes, almost as tall as the ceiling, with grooves, slots and plugs to be found almost everywhere in them, and indeed wires littered the floor connecting them to each other, and to more of these boxes along the walls, and to tables with monitors and keyboards of some strange design. This must've been a computer lab.

They walked inside slowly, as if expecting something to attack them at any moment, even though they knew nothing would. For a few minutes they stood there doing nothing, just staring.

Lilo sneezed.

It seemed only to take only that to give them the impetus to go further into the computer lab. Stitch took the route sideways and explored along the edg of the room while Lilo simply kept walking along slowly. She turned around and walked backward thinking she would get a better view of the room, but ended up tripping over a bundle of wire taped to the floor.

As soon as Lilo opened her eyes, Stitch was right beside her. She flashed him a faint smile before getting back up and turning around to see what kind of hard thing it was that she landed against.

It was round, it was steel, it was about the size of a basketball, it had a circular plate cut out where tinted glass was fit in, it was floating about a foot off the ground, and it wasn't there a minute ago.

"It's another one of those… things." Lilo whispered, and then louder, "Tell it to lead us out of here."

Stitch quickly got between Lilo and the orb and faced it. Stitch cleared his throat briefly.

"Kawani miki boocha."

The orb made a whirring sound and then several clicks and then, nothing.

Stitch lowered he ears at that, but remembered then the last one of these things they encountered spoke English.

"Me and Lilo want out."

Again, the whirring and then clicking, and then nothing.

"What's wrong with it?" Lilo asked.

"Naga nota." Stitch responded, shaking his head.

"Let's just go this isn't the way out."

"Ih."

Lilo and Stitch tuned around and walked out of the lab, but a strange feeling made them turn back around. The floating orb was still behind them. It was following them.

"Stitch, make it go away." Lilo said in a slightly nagging voice, though anyone perceptive enough would realize it was mainly a voice of fear.

"Leave us alone!" Stitch barked out at the orb.

The orb whirred, and then clicked, and then it still floated there looking at them.

"Why is it doing this!" Lilo almost shouted, now sounding on the brink of a very mild panic.

Stitch looked down the hallway in wonder. A camera placed at an intersection caught his eye. It was strange since all the other cameras they found had been panning around. This one, on the other hand, had its lens focused strictly on him.

Stitch walked down the hallway, toward the camera. Lilo seemed a bit confused by this, but it didn't take her long to run right up behind him.

His suspicions were confirmed. As Stitch walked closer to the camera, it lowered to keep him in its view. Stitch wondered what the person on the other end might've been thinking, staring at him. And suddenly he knew what that person was thinking.

Stitch's whole body tensed up, his hairs stood on end and his ears stuck straight up in the air.

"What's wrong?" Lilo asked, tugging at his shoulder.

"Kawani waka ingatta!"

"We've been caught?"

"Ih."

"Let's get out of here… fast!"

In a display of absolute contrast to their sudden panic and hurried state, Lilo and Stitch inched backwards from the floating orb, only to find that it was still following them. About to turn and run, Stitch heard something that stopped him dead still.

"Little girl, Stitch, are you two hearing me?"

The voice came from the orb, and that voice was unmistakable.

"Jumba?" Lilo and Stitch said simultaneously.

"Oh good! You are hearing me." The orb continued. "Be listening carefully, all access privileges of mine have been disabled. This is meaning that security alarm has been triggered."

"Miga nota." Stitch replied.

"Wait!" Lilo interrupted. "How are you talking through this thing?"

"I have hack-ed into security broadcastation system. Be listening, you can no longer be escaping quietly. Only way you are to be escaping now is by force."

"Gaba Jumba help?" Stitch asked.

"Of course I will be helping! I would not have been hacking brodcastation system if I was not intending for to be helping."

Something then happened that surprised Stitch even more than first hearing Jumba's voice coming out of the orb. He looked over at Lilo, and she seemed to be relaxed, even smiling.

"Thanks again Jumba." Lilo said. "You're the best."

* * *

The door here was bigger than any they had previously seen in this place. It had to be twenty feet tall and ten feet wide. The hallway here was only one foot wider and taller than the door was. Even so, Lilo and Stitch could barely see it, as there was only one dim light at the front of the hallway to illuminate the door with.

Lilo stood with her jaw slightly open at this door. She seemed almost frightened by its presence. Something that huge should have an equally great noise to accompany it. The door was silent though. Everything was silent.

The first noise finally emitted caused Lilo to fall over backward. Thankfully, Stitch was right there to catch her.

A small buzzing red light two feet above the ground, just to the left of the door shut down, and an equivalent green light to the right of the door turned on. Two loud clicked sounded soon after that.

"I believe I have finally manag-ed for to reactivate access systems to this room." Jumba's voice came from the floating steel orb behind Lilo and Stitch, who in this hallway had almost forgotten was there. "Stitch, be placing hand on door for to be opening it."

Stitch pulled his hands out from Lilo's armpits and turned around to face the orb. For a split second, his gaze turned down to his breath fogging the air in front of him.

"Where on door?" Stitch asked.

"Anwhere's is being fine." The orb responded.

"Okeytaka."

Stitch turned around and walked up to the door. Lilo's eyes followed him the entire way. He was walking just a bit too casually for her comfort.

Stitch put his hand on the door. The green light to the right turned off, and a white light turned on just above it. One more loud click and the door slid smoothly open, allowing Lilo, Stitch, and the small steel orb inside.

The wind rushed outside from the pressure in the room beyond the door. It was bitterly cold. Everything was dark. It was impossible to tell how large the room was, but from the echoes of Stitch's claws clicking against the concrete floor, it must've been massive. The place was even colder than the hallway. Lilo wrapped her arms around herself in response to the cold. Stitch's attention was drawn to the darkness, so he didn't notice this. The place reeked of burning metal, industrial lubricants and stale air. The only sounds were the nonstop belching and occasional whistling of the circulation systems, the distant rattling of chains, and water dripping everywhere from condensation.

Had Jumba really taken them to a place where they could find a way to escape?

"Miki light!" Stitch barked out at the orb in front of him. His voice echoed several times.

"Be holding on." Jumba responded. "I am getting with the illuminationings."

Like that, the lights turned on. One by one, like a row of dominoes, bringing light on this room, and at last making Lilo and Stitch feel more at ease here.

The room was massive! It was square. It must've been at least four football fields in length. Everything in it was massive. Most of the room was taken up by conveyor belts with bizarre machinery trailing along both sides. Everything shined of chrome, except the black conveyor belts and the concrete floor. This whole room was an assembly line, but for what. Lilo looked off to the far end of the room and the answer became clear.

"Skyboats!" Lilo shouted, and instantly dashed toward the sight.

Stitch knew she wouldn't be able to run that far, and even if she could it would take well over ten minutes. Stitch darted after Lilo. About to collide with Lilo, he instead tossed her up onto his back and sprang over to the far end of the room like a gazelle. They were there in less than a minute.

Looking straight up, there they were, fresh, unpainted skyboats hanging from the ceiling on chains, shining like polished chrome. They hung in rows of ten, and there were eight rows. There were eighty skyboats in all.

"Mega bootifa." Stitch said to himself.

"Let's steal one!" Lilo shouted exuberantly.

"That is being a negative." Interrupted a third voice.

Lilo and Stitch turned to face the voice and found Jumba's orb next to the wall, next to another door just as large as the entrance to the assembly line.

"You will not be stealing any ordinary skyboat, you will be stealing what it behind this door."

Lilo and Stitch looked at each other briefly. Lilo blinked. The two walked side by side up to the door and Stitch put his hand on it. The door slid open revealing a hexagonal room about eighty feet across.

The room was filled with machines and computers. They were similar to the machines that lined the conveyor belts, only smaller, and vastly more fragile looking. They looked like they were built entirely custom and meant solely for precision rather than mass production.

In the center of the room was another skyboat, but it was different from the others. It was only slightly smaller than the others. It was also much sleeker. It didn't even look like a boat at all, as it was a flat bottom with a mass of curves on top. The most distinctive thing about this though, was it's matte navy blue finish, as opposed to the other skyboats which were all stealth black.

"What is it?" Llo asked in awe.

"Is prototype of new skyboat I have been designing for Emperor 626." Jumba replied. "It is being faster, more stable, more heavily arm-ed and armored, and better in every way that normal skyboat. I am calling it, Skyboat Blue."

"Awesome." Lilo responded.

"Moorcheeba." Stitch added in.

Lilo only had a few seconds to gawk at Skyboat Blue before the hairs on her arm suddenly stood on end. Her heart raced and she felt a cold-sweat from what she just realized.

"Jumba?" Lilo asked softly.

"Yes little girl?" Jumba's orb responded.

"What will happen to you when the emperor finds out about you helping us?"

For almost a minute, Lilo and the steel orb stood there staring at each other before Jumba finally answered.

"Do not be worrying little girl. I will be seeing to it that 626 can no longer be punishing me in any way for my transgressions."

Lilo didn't know what to make of this, so she stared blankly at the orb. Stitch however, knew exactly what Jumba was talking about. He lowered his ears and pressed them against the side of his head. Not knowing what else to do, Stitch closed his camcorder and retracted his lower arms, hiding it inside his body, not to bring it out again until the two of them would be safely back at the resistance base.

"I must be going now." The orb said.

"Why?" Lilo asked.

"For to be ensuring that 626 can no longer be punishing me for my transgressions."

"Jumba?"

"Yes little girl?"

"Thanks Jumba. We all owe you big. The whole world owes you big."

A feint glow ceased from the window of the orb, only noticeable because it was now gone. The orb fell to the ground with a loud screeching clank that made Stitch cringe his ears in pain.

"Let's do this Stitch." Lilo said.

"Ih!"

With that, Stitch Lifted Lilo onto his shoulders and climbed up the wall. He climbed across the ceiling and down the chains holding Skyboat Blue, and finally onto the machine itself.

Skyboat Blue must've been equipped with the same sensors that were on the doors to and from the assembly line, for as soon as Stitch crawled onto it, a door on the side pushed itself out and slid sideways, much like doors on allot of minivans.

Stitch, with Lilo still on his back, crawled inside and the door shut itself behind them. It was just bright enough to see with perfect clarity inside Skyboat Blue. Lilo and Stitch were in a square chamber where the walls were lined with the armored suits of of the Emperor's soldiers, and plasma carbines to match.

Lilo and Stitch ran into the front cockpit and jumped in their seats. Restraints automatically wrapped around them and the control panel in front lit up, along with a 3d holographic map of where they were right in front of them and between the seats.

The controls seemed little more than a slightly more stylish version of those on a standard Federation deep space shuttle. This was good. The controls would be intuitive to Stitch.

Stitch looked at the 3d hologram in front of him. According to the map, they were one floor underground in a room that extended about two hundred feet beyond the edges of the base of the pyramid. Stitch could easily blast his way out and simply fly up from the hole in the street.

Stitch activated Skyboat Blue, the chains dislodged themselves and and the skyboat hovered in the air softly.

"Tooki ba-waba!" Stitch shouted out.

* * *

Outside the great pyramid, the grand was a copper colored triangular door built perfectly into the side about ten feet tall. Twelve of the emperor's soldiers stood with their carbines poised at the door, waiting for any sign of activity. There was nothing.

For a long time there was nothing.

Then, a slight rumbling sound. The soldier's stared at each other in confusion. The rumbling got louder. The ground began to shake. It began to shake violently. Some of the soldiers now had a difficult time standing their ground.

And then…

The pavement beneath the feet of the soldiers flew up with an incredible crashing and crunching and showers of sparks and plasma. The soldiers flew about the air and at last landed on the ground.

When the smoke cleared, the soldiers who had survived the explosion saw themselves face to face with Skyboat Blue.

Two, small one yard circles in the bottom of the skyboat opened to reveal turrets, and the soldiers were met with a volley of pure white plasma. Each soldier hit by a shot caused a flash of white so bright that for an instant it seemed like day. What was left of them afterwards was greenish bits of charcoal that flew about in all directions along with green smoke that drifted upward.

Skyboat Blue took off into the night as more soldiers ran out from their hiding places and tried in vain shooting at it with their carbines.

* * *

Inside the bathroom of Emperor 626. His bath was long since finished. The automatic piano had a while ago run out of songs to play. Of the four servants in the room before, only two were now left. One was fitting him with his once prison uniform, now royal garment. The other was busily folding a wine red napkin into the style of a bishop's spire.

When at last the napkin was placed ontop of the Emperor's head. The door to the bathroom slid open again and two soldiers entered.

The emperor sighed with tedium. "What is it this time."

The soldiers walked up to Emperor 626 in perfect synchronicity and knelt before him. A quick wave of the hand signaled them to stand back up.

"Your highness." They both spoke in synchronicity. Only the one on the right continued. "Your facsimile and the human girl have escaped."

"What?" Emperor 626 screamed hard enough to knock his napkin hat off his head. "How?"

"They… uh… They stole Skyboat Blue."

"They stole… Skyboat Blue? I thought the access privileges were shut off!"

"It was Jumba sir. He betrayed us. He led them right to it."

"Jumba." Emperor 626 growled and grit his teeth. He clenched his fists so hard that his claws dug into his paws, drawing blood. "Discipline him! This time, make it level ten."

"I'm afraid we can't do that your highness."

"And why the hell not?"

"Well your highness… Jumba, he uh… he committed suicide not less than five minutes ago."

With that, Emperor 626 dropped to his knees and let out a scream which caused his servants and soldiers to double over in pain.

"Shoot it down! Use the island point defense systems!" the emperor shrieked out at the soldiers just now getting back up to a standing position.

"We can't sir." The soldier on the left replied. "Skyboat Blue is stealth equipped, we can't target it."

Emperors 626 made what was a combination of a growl and a scream, raking his claws down his face. After that, in one leap he was at his piano. He picked it up by the front legs and hurled it at the wall, shattering it.

"Send a wing of skyboats after them!" The emperor snapped at his soldiers. "Tail it with a Skyboat Carrier. Gantu and I will pilot that ourselves. We can't loose visual on it."


	15. The Chase is On

**Notes:** Well, I've finally conquered the elusive chase scene. All that's left for me now is the climactic one-on-one fight scene, and the love scene.

**Review Responses**

**To BlueFox: **This chapter answers your question of how I'm dealing with Gantu in this one. Don't worry, I'll be much kinder to him in Gems of Tommorrow, and in the next epic fic I'm planning, which is partially inspired by Star Trek VI.

**To DraconWolf88:** Thank you so much. There's nothing like gratuitous flattery to make my day.

**To all who asked:** Yes, Jumba really did kill himself. Yes, he really is dead.

* * *

Capitol City was growing further and further into the distance on Lilo's half of the windshield, though in fact it was a monitor. Lilo had asked Stitch to see the rear view camera on her side of the cockpit. She wanted to see Capitol City shrinking in the distance, slowly being replaced by jungles, plantations, and rocky trails, the things she was used to seeing. Along with the view, the feelings of Capitol City were now becoming more and more distant. It was slowly but surely fading away into an unpleasant memory. Now at last, Lilo had time to sit and think about things, things that she hadn't had the chance to think about during her time in the parade and in the pyramid. 

The first thing that came to her mind was her parents, Eric and Keala. More specifically, what came to her mind was how everyone treated the subject when she brought it up. They would always make some sort of disdainful remark she couldn't understand and then change the subject. Even Sam, who seemed so nice, did the same thing as Nani when she tried to bring it up to him. The accident never happened. They were still alive. So why did everyone refuse to talk about them?

Lilo yawned, which drew a brief gaze from Stitch. She seemed to perfectly at ease sitting in the aircraft of the enemy, especially considering what she had gone through in the past month. Stitch knew better though, than to think that she was fine. If by some bizarre circumstance, intuition failed him, all Stitch had to do was sniff the air. Lilo's scent gave the telltale signs of the beginnings of recovery from fear and stress so great that it's liable to drive insane those without any kind of emotional support. One couldn't even guess the kind of psychological turmoil Lilo would be in if it wasn't for his constant companionship and affection. Stitch wondered what Lilo was thinking about at that very moment.

He didn't have to wait long to find out.

Lilo reached over and pushed a triangular orange key on the controls in front of her. Her half of the screen switched back to the view in front.

"Stitch?" Lilo asked just loudly enough to be heard clearly over the smooth hum of Skyboat Blue's engines.

Stitch pressed a few keys in front of him and the craft switched to automatic control. He wanted to give her his full attention.

"Gaba?" Stitch answered, turning his seat to face Lilo.

"It's about mom and dad."

Stitch lowered his ears in anticipation of a sudden change in Lilo's mood from bad, to worse. But he couldn't say anything. He knew in this case it would just be better to listen.

"I know that to change things back, we have to go back and let that accident happen. I can accept that. I do want them back, but not as much as I want to live in the world we once knew.

"But… before we do. I want to see them. I just want to say goodbye to them, because I was never able to. But more than that, I want them to meet you. I want them to know that you really are a good person, and how good you've been to me. I want them to know that, even though they were gone, I was happy with you. I know they'll understand when I tell them what has to be done to make the world a good place to live again."

Stitch only nodded in agreement, knowing that saying anything light make Lilo uncomfortable. He turned back toward the monitor, and then toward the holomap on the floor. They were almost halfway up the summit of Mauna Loa now, and the eastern peninsula, once home to the small cities of Pahoa and Hilo, now to Capitol City, was just a bunch of glittering lights in the distance. Base was only a third of the way down the western side of Mauna Loa, and with the speed of Skyboat Blue, they should be there in little less than half an hour.

"Stitch?" Lilo asked?

Stitch turned back toward Lilo in a silent acknowledgment.

"What did Jumba mean when he said he would make sure the emperor couldn't punish him anymore?"

Stitch turned to the control panel in front of him. Though it seemed he was focused intently on it, he was really staring into space.

"Naga nota." He answered quickly.

In reality, Stitch knew exactly what Jumba meant when he said that. But Lilo was better off not knowing.

"Oh," Lilo replied. "Ok."

Lilo now thought about Stitch, about Emperor 626. The emperor was what Stitch once was. The emperor was what Stitch could have been. The emperor was a heartless, spiteful wretch, fixated on only three things: power over others, killing one's enemies, and being worshiped. Even to his own creator, his own father in essence, the emperor was an unfeeling, ungrateful prick.

Stitch was so unlike this though. Stitch was her angel. He was the nicest angel she could ever have met. Stitch would never do anything to purposefully hurt someone. Well, yes he would've in the beginning. He did use her as a human shield. But only a few days with Lilo and he was the sweetest thing she had ever known or could even have imagined. How could it be possible for any being to change so drastically in just a few days? Was there still anything of the old 626 inside him? If there was, could it ever break free?

"Stitch?" Lilo asked again.

"Gaba?"

"Stitch, would you really have done all those horrible things if you never met me?"

Stitch turned to look out the window now. This did call for an answer. More than that, it called for him to speak in pure English, just so Lilo would know how serious he was being. It was always distressing when he had to talk in pure English, because he still wasn't very good at it, and he always had to pause between words to think of what word would fit in next.

Stitch got out of his seat and walked up in front of Lilo, through the holomap, causing it to go static for a few seconds, put his paws on Lilo's hands, and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Yes. I would have.

"That is why… more than any other reason, I love you. Without you, I would have… become… a monster. That… would be bad. Yeah, it would be bad."

Before Lilo could get another word out, Stitch crawled up onto the seat and into her lap. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck. Lilo could do nothing lean her head forward until she rested her forehead on Stitch's arm. For some odd minutes they sat there like that, almost motionless. Lilo, the entire time, was always on the edge of crying, but never quite got there.

When Lilo at last opened her eyes, she looked off to the side. There was something strange about the holomap on the floor. The little blue blip in the center, which she had guessed was Skyboat Blue, was being followed by four more red blips. It couldn't be a glitch, they were flying in a perfect diamond formation, and they were gaining on Skyboat Blue.

"Stitch, what's that?" Lilo asked.

Stitch lifted up his head and saw Lilo pointing down. He followed her finger to the holomap where he saw the red blips catching up to them.

"Naga nota." Stitch said slowly. This time it was the truth.

They watched for almost a minute until a sixth blip, this one yellow, suddenly appeared in front of the red blip on point. The yellow blip was four times as fast as the red ones, and in seconds, in it was right ontop of the blue one in the center of the holomap.

The sound was like a head on car crash from some distance away. The monitor went static and Skyboat Blue spun out briefly before righting itself and getting back on course.

Stitch was thrown from Lilo by the shock, and landed upside down on his back on the control panel. The cockpit was flashing red along with the words SHIELDS UP on the monitor. Stitch quickly righted himself and jumped back into the pilot's seat. A few buttons pressed and the whole monior showed the view of behind them. They now saw what those things were on the map.

"Skyboats!" Lilo shouted out.

A few more buttons pressed and Stitch turned the controls of Skyboat Blue back to manual control, with his half of the monitor looking forward.

Stitch grabbed the control stick of Skyboat Blue and turned the ship north.

"What are you doing?" Lilo yelled. "We have to get back to base!"

"Naga!" Stitch yelled back. "Cannot lead Skyboats to base!"

"Uhhh… Then head toward Maui, and then Molokai!"

"Gaba?"

"They're built like big runways. They're perfect for these kinds of things!"

"Ih!"

Stitch jerked the control stick again and turned Skyboat Blue west, northwest, toward the outer islands. He cranked the engines into full throttle and blasted away.

The chasing Skyboats followed suit and went into full throttle after Skyboat Blue, but both models at top speed, the skyboats could no longer gain on their target. They continue to follow in almost a straight line, still in formation, the three in front firing their cannons, the only thing that was faster than their mark.

Lilo and Stitch both saw the yellow blips coming at them. Stitch dropped Skyboat Blue to just above the level of the Jungle causing both him and Lilo to fly up in their seats from the negative Gs.

The pursuing skyboats continued their chase from well above while Stitch's Skyboat Blue skimmed across the top of the jungle, its wake dislodging leaves from the treetops and sending them flying into the air. Stitch was barely able to contour his flight

The other skyboats still flew in a straight line and in perfect formation, continuing to fire their barrages of plasma down toward their enemy. Stitch tried every trick in the book to avoid the fire, spinning, swerving, stuttering his velocity, but it was inevitable that some fire would hit its mark. It was incredibly lucky for both inside the cockpit that Skyboat Blue could only be targeted visually, otherwise they'd be dead ten times over by now.

On last hit of plasma sent Skyboat Blue pointed straight down. Stitch heaved his control stick back as far as it would reach, which was just enough to pull his ship up to horizontal as it skimmed through the canopy of the jungle, slicing off the tops of trees.

Stitch was at last able to pull Skyboat Blue out of the canopy. This was as much as he could take. He extended his hidden arms to mess with the control panel in front of him. Lilo's half of the monitor turned again to the rear view, but this time with a set of crosshairs in the center, and a second control stick.

"What's that!" Lilo screamed in reaction.

"Guns!" Stitch shouted back. "Use them!"

"But I don't know how!"

"Do it!"

Without hesitation, Lilo grabbed hold of the control stitch and moved it around a bit. The view on her half of the screen changed, the crosshairs stayed in the center. There was one pistol grip trigger. It wasn't too hard to figure out how this thing worked.

Lilo pointed straight toward the front most skyboat and suddenly a red circle on screen highlighted it. She fired. Two streams of pure white plasma were sent toward the target and converged right at the circle. The skyboat was blown into vapor. The shockwave flattened trees and threw the other skyboats out of formation.

The remaining three never got back into formation. The two skyboats approached from the sides while the carrier continued to chase from a distance above, all three firing at Lilo and Stitch.

Lilo swerved her view to the skyboat chasing left and began fanning it with the cannons as soon as the red circle appeared. This time, it wasn't working so well. Lilo was not a very good shot, and the enemy was now anticipating her attack. The skyboat flew up and down to avoid Lilo's shots while the one on the right continued pounding away with its cannons.

Stitch took only a moment to glance at the control panel, the shields were being drained fast, only sixty one percent left.

"Shoot at both!" Stitch screeched our.

"But I can't hit both!" Lilo retorted.

"Naga hit! Just keep from shooting back!"

Lilo swung over her view to the right skyboat and fired at it for less than a second, not even waiting for the screen to target it, before swinging back and firing at the other. It seemed to be working, they were too busy dodging shots to return fire. Only the carrier was shooting at them now, and a single source of fire was easy enough to dodge.

The land was beginning to flatten out. The trees were becoming sparse. The ocean could be seen in the brief distance. In the further distance was Maui. Stitch kept his course, hugging the land, and then the sea the whole way.

The wake of Skyboat Blue sent columns of water careening into the air, mist so thick it blocked the view of the pursuing skyboats, who stopped firing.

"They can't see us!" Lilo shouted.

"Ih!"

"But that'll change once we reach Maui."

Lilo noticed a small red triangular key off to the side of the control panel. Just below it flashed the words SUBMERGE READY. Lilo slammed her fist on the key a quickly as she could and it turned bright blue, as did the label, which also stopped blinking.

"Go underwater Stitch!"

Stitch didn't even answer, but thrust the control stick down and Skyboat Blue shot into the sea like an arrow. Stitch lowered his speed and finally came to a halt. Once the mist cleared, the other skyboats found no sign of their pray.

They too slowed and eventually stopped.

Skyboat Blue was still just a hundred feet below water. They were already two thirds of the way to Maui. Lilo let go of her control stick and sat back in her seat, breathing heavily. Stitch, his body clenched, still clung tightly to his.

"How long do you think we can hide here?" Lilo asked.

"Naga nota." Stitch answered.

It didn't take long for the skyboats to figure out what happened. Bright red orbs began falling through the water all around them. Bubbles trailed above as the orbs of plasma instantly boiled the water around them. Lilo and Stitch both stared in confusion at this for about a minute before looking at each other.

"Do they think they'll hit us just by luck?" Lilo asked.

"Gaba Kunja Kuwajika." Stitch answered.

Lilo didn't know what that meant, but she assumed it meant he was just as in the dark as she was.

Stitch's ears perked up suddenly as he got an idea.

"Ih!" he said suddenly. "Kawani skyboats jasa niga, waka naditu!"

Lilo understood more of that than the last thing Stitch said. Beat the skyboats with water? It was something like that.

"How?" Lilo asked.

Stitch turned his head toward Lilo and grinned. "Point guns straight down. I say Ih, shoot."

"Got it!" Lilo answered with a not.

Lilo got right back on her control stick and pointed the canons straight down into the ocean. With the orbs of plasma still falling into the sea around them, Stitch turned Skyboat Blue upside down and began slowly ascending toward the surface. Less than fifty feet to the top, Stitch looked down at the holomap. He angled the ascent so that he would come up right beneath one of the skyboats. Twenty five feet to the surface, Stitch accelerated the ascend so hard that Skyboat Blue flew out of the water like a missle, crashing right into the skyboat above it, an pushing it up into the air with it.

"Ih!" Stitch screamed.

Lilo pulled her trigger, and the skyboat exploaded in a giant white flash causing a shockwave in the water. Skyboat Blue shot out from the explosion toward Maui at full throttle, and the remaining two immediately gave chase.

It was less than a minute before they reached Maui, and Stitch had to slow way down to avoid crashing right into a rock. This however, gave the last two skyboats the opportunity to catch up with them.

The first thing Stitch was greeted with when he flew up into Maui was a narrow canyon, which he began to turn to avoid.

"Head into the canyon!" Lilo shouted.

Stitch just nodded and swerved back into the canyon he was just avoiding. The last skyboat followed them inside while the carrier, to big to fit inside, followed from the top, trying to bombard Skyboat Blue from above. Both chasing skyboats continued pummeling Lilo and Stitch with their plasma cannons, many times almost knocking Skyboat Blue right into he cliff face. Lilo continued to try to shoot down the skyboat chasing them through the canyon. She was still a poor shot, and even with targeting she hit it only when she got lucky.

Stitch grit his teeth as he saw something up ahead, and then grinned evilly to himself as he saw what it was.

Stitch accelerated and ascended only slightly. Turning Skyboat Blue on its side, Stitch flew right through an opening in a rocky overhanging. The chasing skyboat turned on its side to follow him through, but wasn't small enough to fit. The skyboat tore both its sides right off as it passed through the opening, and the middle fell down and crashed into the basin below.

The carrier, now alone, changed its tactics. It stopped firing at Skyboat blue, and instead began firing at he boulders and rocky overhangings trying to bring them down ontop of Skyboat Blue. Lilo immediately turned her guns toward the pursuer above and fired as soon as it was targeted.

The carrier was slower than the skyboats, and couldn't dodge as well. In seven seconds Lilo counted seven direct hits. It was now only a matter of drilling through the carriers shields, which had to be many, many times stronger than those of an ordinary skyboat, before it could cause a rockslide to fall right ontop of Skyboat Blue.

But this would never happen. An overhanging right in front of Lilo and Stitch was hit with a blast and tumbled downward. The inertia of Skyboat Blue was too much, there was nothing Stitch could do to avoid it. The massive broken piece of rock fell right ontop of Skyboat Blue, knocking it to the ground, and knocking Lilo unconscious.

* * *

Lilo slowly woke up to a blur of color and a horrid pain in her head, and in her neck. An equally painful ringing in her ears began slowly subsiding. She held her head in her hands and moaned until the pain subsided to the point where she could tolerate it. 

At last she opened her eyes. She still saw double, but at least it was no longer blurry. She unhooked her restraints and stumbled out of her seat.

"Stitch!" She cried out.

But there was no answer.

"Stitch!" She cried out again, "Help me!" but again there was no answer.

She walked around, wobbling to and fro from dizziness, until she fell face first out of the door to Skyboat blue and onto dry dirt. The door seemed to have already been opened, but that wasn't something that occurred to Lilo in her present state, especially since she would pass out again in a few seconds.

A minute later Lilo woke up again. Her mouth and nose was filled with dirt, and her body ached, and her neck felt like it had almost been torn right off, but at least she was now coherent, and able to see clearly. She coughed and sneezed many times over before she could breath again.

Lilo pushed herself up to find a familiar massive hand blaster pointed right at her face. She looked up above the blaster to find an equally familiar person standing in front of her, but in the unfamiliar black armored suit of one of the emperor's soldiers, minus the helmet.

"Gantu?" Lilo was barely able to get out in a raspy whisper.

"So you're the little girl the emperor is in such a fit over." Gantu responded in his typical deep, arrogant voice. "That was quite a chase you put up. Where's the facsimile?"

"The what?" Lilo whispered out again.

"The facsimile of the emperor!" Gantu roared. "Where is he?"

"He's not a facsimile! He's Stitch! He's my friend."

"Really. Well then, where's Stitch?"

"I don't know."

"Well then maybe I should just take you away and use you as bait for him."

"No!"

"Would you have a better idea?"

Lilo stared at Gantu blankly for about a minute, still with the giant hand blaster pointed right at her.

"Why do you work for the emperor?" Lilo asked softly.

Gantu raised his blaster up to his chest and clenched his jaw.

"There are only two kinds of people in this world little girl," Gantu said with his eyes closed. "those who serve Emperor 626, and those who die."

"But you were sent to capture 626." Lilo said back. "Why I you work for him now."

Gantu was in disbelief at this moment, and stared at Lilo with a slightly dumbfounded look for quite a few seconds before regaining his composure.

"How do you know about that?" Gantu asked.

"Stitch isn't a facsimile." Lilo answered. "He's the emperor's good side. I know because I met him and brought it out of him."

"What are you talking about? And you didn't answer my question!"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Lilo blinked a few times before continuing. "What about my question?"

Gantu turned his head and sighed heavily. "Yes," he said. "I was sent here to capture 626. But he was… He's better than I am. That's why I serve him."

"How so?"

"I couldn't get him, he outdid me at every turn. Finally, he had me on my knees, with him ready to kill me with a single blow. I asked him why he was doing this, and he said, because destroying is fun. I chickened out! I told him, _why destroy when you can rule?_ Absolute power is so much better than mindless devastation. He loved the idea so much, well, you can see what became of it."

Lilo stood with her mouth slightly open. She felt sorry for Gantu,despite all he'd done to her in the past, she now felt sorry for him.

"I belong to the emperor now." Gantu continued. "I'm no longer a person. I'm nothing more than his property, and as property, I would have no feelings about killing you just to get to Stitch."

"But you won't." A second voice rang out. "Because I want her for myself."

Gantu turned his head and then stepped aside, kneeling down and bowing his head to the figure that began walking toward Lilo.

It was Emperor 626, in his red uniform and burgundy napkin hat, and with a flowing yellow shawl draping down his right side.

Lilo froze in place. This was only the second time she had seen the emperor up close, and with those arrogant, impassive eyes, it was no less terrifying. Emperor 626 walked slowly up to Lilo, who stared at him wide eyes. Lilo didn't move a muscle, nor did Gantu.

"You!" Emperor 626 gasped. He was certainly surprised to see what was in front of him, but just as quickly, he regained his poker face. "You're the stiff from the parade. I thought you were just star struck, but now I know what was going on in your head. What's you're name."

Lilo thought she was too scared even to answer the question, so she was amazed when she found her mouth forming the word, "Lilo."

Lilo at last found the will to move anything but her lips, and took a step back from the emperor.

"What's the matter Lilo?" Emperor 626 continued. "I can be you're friend too."

"No." Lilo whipered back, shaking her head slowly. "Stitch is my friend. You're nobody's friend."

Gantu's head turned slightly back and forth, following the conversation between the two pint sized creatures.

"Stitch, yes" Emperor 626 sighed. "Where did Stitch come from?"

"Stitch is you, but good."

"He's me hmmm? Care to elaborate?"

"I met you in the pound. I brought you home and taught you how to love. I taught you how to be good. But we went back on the time machine, and something went wrong. You never met me, you stayed evil, and that's where you came from."

"Evil? Me? I do know how to love Lilo."

Behind Lilo and the emperor, well hidden from view and careful not to make a sound, something stirred on the hull of Skyboat Blue.

"My people taught me how to love Lilo. I love the pacific islands, and I love their unspoiled splendor and beauty, and most of all I love their people."

The figure unnoticed began to clear away the rubble piled atop Skyboat Blue.

"All I need is for you to say I'm your emperor, and I will love you like you were my own daughter."

Lilo continued to step back as Emperor 626 continued to walk toward her.

Gantu lifted his head to watch the emperor continue to walk toward Lilo, as she continued to step back away from him.

"Let me hold you Lilo, and I will show you just how caring I really am."

Emperor 626 knew Lilo wouldn't abbey him, so he abruptly stepped toward her faster than she could back off, and warpped his arms around her.

Lilo was stiff as a board in the emperor's embrace, even though it was as soft and gentle as a teddy bear. Emperor 626 lightly caressed her head and shushed into her ear. He purred loudly and she could feel it in her chest. Lilo didn't know what to think or feel at that moment. What she saw the emperor do, vs his apparent kindness right now as well as the reminder of being held by Stitch. She cried in confusion, and in confusion, pressed herself against the emperor's body.

"That's right Lilo." The emperor whispered into her ear. "Let it all out. I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you."

Lilo just cried harder from her confusion. She didn't know what to feel, what to think, what to believe. What scared her the most was that the embrace of Emperor 626 was almost as comforting to her as the embrace of Stitch.

But it wouldn't last long, with a cry out from nowhere.

"ACKOOCHA!"

Stitch flew down from the top of Skyboat Blue and tackled Emperor 626 off of Lilo and to the ground.

Two two of them rolled about in the dirt, snarling and snapping at each other, their arms locked and pushing against each other.

Gantu immediately stood back up and aimed his blaster at the two 626's rolling around, trying to get an aim at the naked one, while clear of the one in uniform.

Lilo stood there in utter shock to watch Stitch wrestle the Emperor 626 on the ground.

The emperor shrieked at his mirror image and then spit right in Stitch's eye. Stitch fell back to the ground and frantically wiped off the drool. When Stitch opened his eyes again it was too late. Emperor 626 was only a few inches in front of him, and four paws were squeezing his neck. Stitch couldn't reach above the emperor's arms to get to his face, so he did the only thing that came to him. Stitch smashed his forehead against the emperor's muzzle.

Emperor 626 let go of Stitch and stumbled back a few feet.

Now was Gantu's chance, he fired a shot at Stitch and knocked him back into a boulder.

"Get inside Lilo!" Stitch screamed.

Without hesitation, Lilo dashed into Skyboat Blue and jumbed into the passenger seat.

The emperor jumped ontop of Stitch and again began choking him. But this time Stitch grabbed the Emperor's hands and dug his arms into his wrists, drawing blood. Emperor 626 couldn't take it for long, and he let go of Stitch's neck, and grabbed hold of his arms.

But a noise like a mechanical door opening drew both Stitch and the emperor's attention away from their fighting, and toward Skyboat Blue.

The two top turrets were pointed right at Emperor 626, and fired.

White hot plasma collided with the emperor and sent him soaring through the canyon straight into the face of a cliff.

"You're highness!" Gantu yelled out, and ran toward where the emperor had landed.

Stitch ran straight into Skyboat Blue, shut the door, and jumped into the pilot's seat.

Gantu frantically tried to dig the Emperor 626 out of the pile of rock ontop of him. When he finally succeeded, he pulled the emperor, now black and burned, and a bit delirious, to his feet.

Emperor 626 scowled as he watched Skyboat Blue demolish his now grounded skyboat carrier with an aerial bombardment, and fly off into the sunrise.


	16. Hellhole, HI

**Review Responses**

**To mostextremeprincess:** I was wondering when someone woul ask that. Unfortunately I never really came up with an explenation for that, I just thought it up as a way to further differentiate Stitch and Emperor 626.

**To Ted:** What the hell kind of writer would I be if I left chapter 15 as the epic climax? Honestly, I'd think you'd expect a bit more from me.

**To Bluefox: **Excellent! That was exactly the effect I was going for.

**Sotry notes:** I would like to give credit to the orchestrated version of the soundtrack for Final Fantasy 8 (most specifically, The Landing and Battle Theme) for proviing me with inspiration for my chase scene. Without those two songs, it never would've been done.

* * *

The room was dark. It was dark because that's how Sam liked it. Sam couldn't do any serious work unless it was dark, and there were few times he worked as seriously as he was right now. The room was just smaller than a small bedroom, and there wasn't anything in it, except a ripe bed with no sheets, blankets, or pillows, and a small fiberboard desk with a laptop and a printer. 

The glowing screen of the laptop was the only light source in the room, barely illuminating Sam's face, leaving the rest of his head in the shadows. He sat in a stained steel fold up chair holding his chin in his left hand and typing drearily on the laptop with just his right index finger.

There was so much in the DVD that Lilo gave him. Most of it was just an endless index of spreadsheets and databases all containing equally endless arrays of mathematical, geometric, and fractal figures supposedly representing anatomy and genetics. Sam couldn't make heads or tails of any of it, and if he put his best effort into doing so, he felt he'd probably pass out from disorientation. How the hell Jumba could understand any of this, much less write it all himself, was beyond him. Nonetheless, he knew exactly what it all was, or rather, what it was all supposed to be. As soon as Sam had put that DVD in his laptop, a black screen came up with a stylized gold lettering scrolling down from the top. _The Complete Anatomical Readout of the Imperial Soldier_, is what it said.

Knowing nothing else to do, Sam dug through the sheets of unintelligible numbers and graphs until he reached something he thought he might recognize, a series of slideshows. Thankfully, all the files were written on earthly computers, and could thusly be read by Sam's laptop.

What he saw when he opened that first slide show was the naked body of the imperial soldier sprawled out with images of six arms as a kind of parody of the official symbol of the human species. Stylized lettering scrolled down the screen proclaiming, The Superiority of the Imperial Soldier for His Highness Emperor 626.

"What is that?"

Sam jumped up in his seat and breathed out when he should have breathed in, causing the room to spin for only a second. This was something he rarely, if ever, did, but seeing that picture on the screen somehow made him uncomfortable.

As soon as he regained his composure, about one and an half seconds, Sam turned around to see a curious Lilo standing right behind him with her arms perfectly at her sides. Lilo could only talk in a whisper; she had only talked in a whisper ever since she got back from the great pyramid.

Through all the wild celebrations and newfound hero worship of Stitch, well, they'd eaten half their remaining rations without thinking about what they were doing, but more to the point, the base was so frantic that until now Sam never got to look at Lilo.

She still had that face on her. Everything was totally limp, except the ends of the lips so slightly down turned that it usually only registered unconsciously. And those eyes, they were unblinking, unmoving, untwitching. Her eyes were so wide open that it looked unnatural. It was almost as if she could look through walls with eyes that wide. It seemed more robotic than human.

What Sam had never told Stitch was that there were in fact two versions of this face. There was the tense version you have when you first get it, and then there's a slightly more relaxed version you have after you've gotten used to it. That's how Lilo was looking at him now.

Sam reached down to pick Lilo up and sit her on his lap. Having that physical contact seemed to help her a bit. She was immediately brought only partially back to actually seeming alive. Her breathing became deeper and just a tab less constant in its pace. She finally allowed herself to twitch and blink like normal people do. Her face changed as well, but only to something that was devoid of any expression whatsoever.

Sam looked down at Lilo for just a split second to confirm her change in demeanor. It wasn't good, but it was better than it was just a few seconds ago. It was only when she was with Stitch that she was able to bring herself out of this state completely. Nonetheless, satisfied that he had dome all he could, Sam looked backup at the laptop and began to speak.

"It's supposed to tell us all about those blue men. " He said. "If there's a way to beat the Emperor, it's in them."

This was true, though greatly simplified. It was once thought absurd that there could possibly be any kind of flaw in the design of the Pacific Empire. But now it seemed there was one, and that flaw was in the keystone of the imperial arch, the Emperor's half-breed soldiers. But this was a longshot. If there were something about them that could be exploited to his advantage, it would never be stated outright. It would be something you would have to deduce based on the ways these beings were superior.

Sam clicked through the slide show, finding close ups of various parts of the Imperial Soldier's body, and various grandiose claims about said body which all had to be true despite their ridiculousness.

Lilo stared into the pictures and their corresponding text just as intently as Sam.

The Imperial Soldier has physical strength ten times greater than a human's, and physical dexterity five times greater. The Imperial Soldier can have one collapsed lung, one functioning arm, total failure of the kidney's, liver, and gastro-intestinal system, and only half its original quantity of blood, and remain seventy one percent combat effective for up to five hours, dying at last between thirteen and seventeen hours. All senses on the Imperial Soldier, excluding tactile, are at least four times greater than that of a human. Their eyes have malleable nictitating membranes and protective oils giving them the ability to filter out harmful EM rays as well as to adjust their eyes from point seven to four times the zoom of a human's. Their method of hearing is not based on percussion, but is rather a biological equivalent of a condenser microphone, using changes in the frequency of a tiny amount of static electricity to interpret sound, giving them a sense of hearing more acute than the most sensitive of bats, as well as a heightened sense of balance. Their olfactory senses are eighty times greater than a human's, and are discriminatorily interpreted, as opposed to a human's olfactory sense, in which several odors are interpolated into a single scent.

So many big words to make the whole thing sound impressive, Sam had to read it all twice just to understand it. Lilo couldn't understand it at all.

"How will this tell us how to beat Emperor 626?" Lilo asked.

"I don't think it will," Sam replied "but I think what it says may help us figure out how to beat those blue men the emperor has."

"If we could get rid of them…"

"We could attack the emperor in his own palace, without meeting any resistance."  
The screen was just a mass of incoherent pictures and foreign sounding words to Lilo, but she understood what Sam said.

Not having to fight any of those blue men was comforting to her, but having to fight Emperor 626 was not. Caught between dread and relief, Lilo's anxiety just remained the same.

"The sounds have died down," Sam spoke up suddenly. "What's everybody doing?"

Lilo blinked a few times before she would respond. "They're all with Stitch, watching Stitch's video."

"They've watched that thing seven times now."

"Well, they wanna' watch it again." Lilo paused briefly, trying to remember what it was she was going to say next, but was interrupted before she could.

"Where's Nani?" Sam asked.

Nani! That's what she was trying to remember.

"That's why I came here." Lilo answered. "Nani left."

"Why?"

"She said that even if we did find a weakness in the empire, we wouldn't have it long enough to use it. She said the traitor is here right now, in this base. She said he'll tell the emperor where we are, and they'll come after us before we can do anything to them. So she left."

Nani was paranoid. Sam knew that, everyone knew that. It may very well be that her claims were nothing more than speculative ramblings taken just a bit too seriously. Even so, in the Empire of the Pacific, paranoia is an asset for survival.

_But dammit why did she have to ditch us!_ Sam thought. _That's selfish and irresponsible!_

"What are you thinking about?"

Sam was startled slightly by Lilo's sudden question, though he showed no sign of it. He looked back down at her. His face must've been clenched, and she must've picked up on that.

"Until you and Stitch showed up, only two kinds of missions here in Hawaii have ever succeeded, missions led by me, and missions led by Nani. We needed her to help lead the attack against Emperor 626, once I figure out… whatever this is."

Sam slapped the screen of his laptop with the back of his hand. Lilo glanced over at it briefly.

"Can it work without her?" Lilo asked.

Sam looked down at Lilo for a second before answering. "It might. I don't know. Then again I don't even know if can work with her."

"Do you think the traitor is here with us now?"

Sam sighed and closed his eyes. "Again, I don't know. Ever since loosing her sister…"

"You mean me?" Lilo interrupted.

"I mean the other you." Sam replied. "Ever since she lost her, she's only ever seen things from the most pessimistic of angles. It's possible she's just presuming things, but I don't know. I hope for all our sakes she's wrong."

Lilo turned her head off the side deep in thought while Sam continued to browse through his slideshow. It was a minute or so before she spoke again.

"Sam?" Lilo asked.

Sam immediately stopped and looked back down.

"Yes Lilo?"

Lilo got a look of surprise and found herself speechless for some moments.

"That was the first time you called me Lilo." She whispered.

"Well," Sam responded. "After seeing that video, I now believe you are who you claim to be."

Lilo stared at Sam for a short while before Sam realized she wasn't going to talk first.

"What is it Lilo."

Lilo took a deep breath before speaking. "Before we, do what has to be done, I just want one thing."

"What is it?"

"I want to see my parents. I just want to be able to say goodbye to them."

Sam looked the other way the instant he heard the word _parents_. He clenched his lips tight but tried to hide it by placing his hand on his closed hand over them. Again, Lilo had mentioned her mother and father, and again I brought about a kind of discomfort in who she asked. It was clear Sam didn't want to talk about this, but this time she would push the issue until he did.

"I want to see them Sam." Lilo continued. "Don't change the subject."

Sam finally turned back toward Lilo, but with a slight angry frown.

"Very well." Sam finally answered. "I will take you to them.

Sam walked slowly into what was once the lobby of the old lava observatory. He held Lilo's hand while he walked into the he room to see everyone who wasn't posted somewhere gathered around the old TV. Everyone was dead silent and intent on watching the movie from Stitch's camcorder playing along. Stitch himself was seated in the very front atop a large pillow. He too, stared intently at the screen, even though this was his eighth time seeing it, and even though he had been there himself.

"_You mean you have it!"_

"_I am afraid not. After reverse engineering device and learning of its nature, I refused to divulge said information to 626. This accounts for majority of my scarifications in his attempts to loosen my lips. But I will not put such knowledge as time travel in the grasp of a barbaric creature such as 626. I will be building many absurd weapons for him, but never something so incredibly powerful."_

"_But Jumba create Stitch!" Stitch interrupted loudly. "Stitch supposed to be barbaric!"_

_Jumba sighed, and turned his chair around to face Lilo and Stitch._

"_It was true." Jumba said. "I originally built you, 626, to be perfect evil machine. But my time with myself has been making me be seeing my efforts in different light. I was never truly being evil, just lonely."_

"_What do you mean?" Lilo asked._

_Jumba sighed again before answering._

"_I have been discovering in my isolation and torture, the reason I had been creating my experiments to begin with. The life of a genius is being a very lonely one. Others are constantly naming you of freak, villain, psychopath, EVIL! I thought to myself, if they are wanting evil, I will be giving them evil!  
"But that was only reason being for nature of my experiments. Reason being for very creation of experiments… was need for companionship… I did it all wrong. My pathetic shell of body is being result of my self delusionings." _

"_But you didn't make Stitch totally evil!" Lilo shouted back at him. "You did put some good in him! I know because I found it!"_

"_Ih!" Stitch added in. "Lilo find good in Stitch! Stitch good now!"_

"_Yes." Jumba responded. "As difficult as it is being to believe, I must assume what you say is true, considering Stitch before you right now being is as sweet as puppy dog."_

_"What happened to Pleakly?" Lilo asked._

_"Who is being this... Pleakly?"_

_"Big noodle man!" Stitch shouted with great expression in his hands. "Only one eye."_

_"Oh him... 626 found no use for cycloptic sapient. Had him killed."_

Sam cleared his throat loudly and the crowd in front turned around to look at him.

"I'm taking Lilo to Honolulu." Sam declared to the crowd.

The crowd immediately reacted. There were heads turning, murmurs, and shivers of nervousness. Through the moving bodies, Lilo and Stitch eyed each other. From the faces of each of them, it was clear to both of them that neither of them knew what could've been wrong with what Sam was saying.

At last one of them spoke up. "You're taking her to that hellhole?"

At the first comment, others began to speak up as well.

"She's just a kid!"

"That's not the kind of place you should send a kid."

"Stitch needs to go with her."

"Yeah! I'm not gonna' let you take her to that place unless Stitch is with her."

A few more backhanded comments on how Sam could be so mean and the crowd once again quieted. Slowly, they all turned toward Stitch. The comments were clear enough, they didn't even have to look at Stitch for him to know what they wanted.

Stitch got up from his pillow and began walking toward Sam and Lilo. The crowd parted to let him pass. Looks from all of the rebels were like children suddenly being torn from their mothers. That's what they looked like, and that's what they felt like to see Stitch leaving, even though they knew he would be coming back the very next day. But unlike children, these rebels had a great deal of self-control, so they just stood watching, with only their looks as a farewell.

Stitch took Lilo's free hand, and in between him and Sam, Lilo walked out the door of the former lobby. But just before they were outside.

"What's wrong with Honolulu?" Lilo asked.

* * *

"There is no more Honolulu." Sam spoke in an unusually serious tone, unusual even for him. 

He was right though. What lay before Lilo and Stitch, just down from the hill they stood on in that night totally covered by clouds was not a city. There were no buildings, there were no cars, there were no lights except for a single street lamp once every hundred meters or so. This was not a city. This was not even a town. From the distance it looked more like a cropcircle than anything anyone would live in.

This sight made both Lilo and Stitch shiver and feel cold inside. This was the single greatest difference between the two worlds they knew. What was once a major city was now nothing. It was flat land with no people. This went beyond wrong. This was just plain horrific.

"Shortly after taking power, the emperor personally oversaw Hunolulu being demolished and burned to the ground." Sam continued. "There was no evacuation. Almost a quarter of the people living there didn't make it out alive."

"Why would he do that?" Lilo whispered.

Sam snorted before answering. "He said it was because the major cities of the past were hotbeds of deviant thoughts which must be destroyed."

"Naga." Stitch interrupted. His voice was different this time from its usual expressive self. Stitch was now somber, and stared out at that next to nothing with a kin of intense gaze usually only found when two nemeses look each other straight in the eye.

"Naga." Stitch continued. "Emperor destroy city, because is programmed to. Is fun. Fun for him."

"That would mean you too are programmed to destroy large cities." Sam said to stitch.

"Ih. Is fun, but Stitch naga wanna' hurt people."

"What did he do with this place?" Lilo asked.

Sam turned from Stitch to Lilo. "On the ruins of Honolulu, the emperor built a monument."

"To what?" Lilo asked.

* * *

"To all those who would dare speak out against him." Sam said, presenting Lilo and Stitch with a massive concrete wall. 

Lilo and Stitch stood and stared at the wall in front of them. Stare was all they could do when faced with something like what they saw. What looked vaguely like cropcircles from a distance were made of ten foot walls, all three feet thick. These walls were all cement, formed over large jars. The jars were filled with a sickly orangey fluid, and suspended in that fluid, one in each jar, were severed human heads. The skin on all these heads had shriveled p like prunes, and the flesh turned midnight blue. But those eyes, those eyes were preserved perfectly. It was as if living eyes had been placed in these dead, dried up heads. Below each jar was a small bronze plaque stating a name, a date of birth and death, and some outlandish crime such as driving a foreign vehicle, wearing unauthorized clothes, or writing defiant poetry.

"Everyone in these jars acted against Emperor 626 in some way, or so he claims." Sam continued. "Crimes against the Emperor very from publicly denouncing him as an evil tyrant, to owning a grass skirt. Now they reside in these walls, each preserved in his or her own jar of tannic acid, serving to inspire fear into those who would ever consider speaking out against the emperor."

Lilo couldn't say anything, not that she wanted to anyway. What she was seeing was such a shock to her that she was unsure of what to think or feel. Morals and ethics said you had to feel something at this moment, but try as she might, she couldn't feel anything except for the shock and partial disbelief at what she was seeing. She couldn't even feel guilt at the lack of her sadness and disgust.

Stitch eyes these heads with fear, but also a morbid fascination. A long time ago he would've looked at something like this and found it amusing. The emperor must find this amusing, considering those thoughts. Stitch stared at a wall of death and realized that was what he was meant to be. It frightened him beyond reason because he didn't find nearly as disturbing as he thought he would.

"Come with me." Sam interrupted the blank stares of Lilo and Stitch, both of whom jumped slightly at those words, and then turned toward him.

Lilo and stitch passed row after row after row of walls, all of them imbedded with human heads in jars. They both read the crimes their victims were accused of: Unlawful cultural practices, ownership of foreign currency, speaking in unauthorized language, failure to impart offspring to government sanctioned care facilities, Failure to provide biometric signature to government facilities, participation in unauthorized celebration, possession of defiant inborn personality type, public act of defiance.

Public act of defiance, that one got Lilo's attention, not the crime per say, but the name engraved above it, David Kawena.

"David?" Lilo stopped and whispered. She stared up at that head. Shriveled, tightened, warped, discolored, but still recognizable, there was no doubt that was David Kawena. Lilo jaw trembled and tears began to form in her eyes, but there was never enough to drip down her cheeks, as if something were holding them back. Other than that, she found herself unable to make a sound or a movement.

Feeling large hands suddenly pressing on her shoulders broke whatever was holding back Lilo's tears, and they poured out from her eyes, causing her to blink as her vision became blurry.

"Shortly after the establishment of the Pacific Empire, Emeperor 626 began a campaign to systematically eradicate the cultures of the pacific islands. In response to this, David Kawena climbed to the top of a convenience store and shouted out the emancipation proclamation in Hawaiian. This is what became of him."

Sam looked down at Lilo, unable to do anything except quiver her jaw and blink when her tears blurred her vision too much. He looked to the side to see Stitch looking up at him. Stitch constantly shifted from him to Lilo and back again. His expression was clear enough. He didn't know what he could do for Lilo, and was looking to Sam to help figure it out. Sam only gave Stitch a weak saddened face as if to say he couldn't help. Stitch drooped his ears and lowered his head.

"Come Lilo," Sam said. "There's more to see."

Despite her condition, Lilo continued to follow Sam through the simple labrynth of walls. This time she only looked straight ahead, never glancing at any of the heads, or their labels, especially their labels. Stitch, on the other hand, continued to read them all intently just to give himself a better picture of what this empire of love was really about. All the crimes were just as ridiculous as the ones before: Publicly performing unsanctioned form of dance, ownership of unsanctioned literature, employment within non-public business, ownership of foreign vehicles, familial association with foreign enemy.

There was something special about that last one though. Familian association with foreign enemy. Stitch thought at a glance that one was somehow familiar, so he looked a bit harder, at the name.

Keoni Jameson.

Oh shit!

If Lilo saw that she would absolutely freak, and they were walking right toward that one!

In a flash stitch jumped out in front of Lilo with his arms out stretched and shaking his head violently.

"Naga! Naga!" Stitch shouted. "That way! Other way!"

Despit his words, Stitch never pointed in any direction, only blocking the current one.

"Stitch what are you doing?" Sam said in quite a harsh tone.

"Stitch!" Lilo shouted. "What are you keeping me from!"

Lilo looked up above Stitch and then saw it, the head of a child in a tank of tannic acid. Below that, Keoni Jameson, 1992-2006, familial association with foreign enemy.

Lilo froze up in utter shock and disbelief at what she just saw. It was enough to tell Stitch his efforts had failed, so he just slapped his head and fell over backwards.

Lilo was still in shock. Her mind was a blank. For a few seconds she didn't even know where she was or what she was looking at. When she at last came to her senses, she ran over to the tank, over Stitch, and grabbed it with both hands, trying to pull it out of the wall, even though she knew she couldn't.

"No!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "No! No! No! No! No! Why Keoni! Why'd he have to kill Keoni!"

And with that, she fell down on her butt and hit her head against the concrete of the wall, and pressed her eyes shut as tight as she could. That didn't stop the tears from flowing, or the feeling of mild nausea in her stomach. How could Keoni deserve something like this? It wasn't long before Lilo got her answer.

"Fredrick Jameson was caught trying to smuggle a shipment of ammunition to one of our former bases in Maui through the port of Wailua." Lilo heard Sam's voice, but it only partly registered with her. Sam most likely knew this, but he kept talking. "The emperor had something special in mind for him. Instead of killing Fredrick, he locked him away and then killed the rest of his family living in Hawaii, including his son Keoni. To this day Fredrick is alive in a prison cell somewhere, surrounded by blown up photographs of his family members being mutilated.

Lilo couldn't speak, she couldn't feel, she couldn't think, she could only cry, even though there was no emotional impetus for it. One thing was for sure, she would be feeling it in the morning. But while she was numb, Sam took the opportunity to take her by the hand and lead her further into the simple labyrinth of walls.

Stitch reluctantly got up and followed.

It was a long time of walking. Lilo looked at the ground the whole time. It was when she finally stopped that she looked up. She was inside of a perfect circle of these concrete walls, except for just behind her, where she entered. Directly in the center of this circle was a tiny section of wall, facing the direction of the entrance, just large enough to fit two jars. From the distance, Lilo couldn't quite make out the faces of the disembodied heads in the those jars.

"Go read the plaques." Sam said.

Lilo just shook her head. "I don't want to." She whispered.

"You have to."

"Why?" Lilo answered, with tears beginning to well up.

"Because this is the only way you will truly understand what has to be done."

Lilo swallowed, even though there was nothing to swallow, her mouth and throat were bone dry. She took one tediously slow step after the other until finally, the faces in the jars becoming more and more familiar the entire time, until finally, she could read the writing on the plaques below.

Eric Pelekai, 1963-2005, conspiring against the sovereignty of the Pacific Empire.

Keala Pelekai, 1961-2005, conspiring against the sovereignty of the Pacific Empire.

It was Eric and Keala, It was Lilo's parents, it was their heads mummified in jars for the whole world to see, right in the center of this monument to death. David was bad, Keoni was worse, but this, this was beyond words.

The tears never came to Lilo. Instead, the tears that were already there were sucked dry, and she could no longer cry anymore, even though she wanted to, she wanted to more than anything else at that moment.

"Mom? Dad?" Lilo whispered. Her voice was hoarse and raspy, not from strain, but she simply could barely bring herself to speak. "Why? Why? Why? Why?"

Lilo was like a broken record, she couldn't say anything other than why, and she couldn't take her eyes off of those faces.

A shadow overtook Lilo. Sam was standing above her.

"Eric and Keala, as well as myself, and a few others were the founding members of the resistance. Just a year after it was formed, they were caught. I watched on television for six months as the emperor personally tortured them, drugged them, as he had machines drill into their brains, and finally, as he broke their souls.  
"I saw them as they bowed down before the emperor, and called him God. And with the sweetest smile, he laid his hands on their shoulders, and snapped their necks.  
"Though I can' speak for you're parents, I believe i would be safe to assume that they would much rather die in a car accident, than by what the emperor would do to them."

How? How could Emperor 626 do anything like this? It dawned on Lilo at that moment more than any other moment, that Stitch and the Emperor were one in the same. Emperor 626 was who Stitch once was. Emperor 626 was who Stitch was meant to be. Emperor 626 was who Stitch could have been. Even when he was evil, how could Stitch do anything like this? Stitch was her angel, the nicest angel there ever was. An angel couldn't possibly murder Lilo's mother and father, or could he? Lilo had always known that Stitch was evil before he met her, but until this moment she thought of it as a kind of Loony Toonsish supervillainy. Until this moment, she never truly understood what the word evil meant. Could that still be inside Stitch somewhere? Deep down, could Emperor 626 still be lurking somewhere inside him?

Lilo turned around to face Stitch, with his ears down and hiding behind Sam's leg.

"How could you do that Stitch?" Lilo whispered. "How could you kill them."

"Lilo." Stitch said pleadingly. He crept out from behind Sam's leg and tried to put his hands on her shoulders, only to be met with an ear piercing shriek.

"Get away from me! I hate you!"

Hearing those words, I hate you, Stitch's heart stopped for almost a whole second before it began to beat again. What he had just heard was frightening and hurtful beyond anything that he had ever experienced before. It might have been easier on him if he thought she didn't really mean what she said. But right now, Stitch couldn't tell if Lilo actually meant those words or not.

Now it was Stitch's turn to cry.

"Lilo." Sam said loudly. "Stitch didn't do anything wrong."

Lilo tried to believe what Sam had just said, but still found that she couldn't.

"Lilo, the reason I showed you this was so that you could better understand Stitch, and the Emperor, and just how important you really are. If you want to know if there's anything of the emperor within Stitch, I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that question. But if you want to know if there's anything of Stitch inside the emperor, I'm afraid I have to say no."

"But how do you know?" Lilo whispered in that hoarse, raspy voice.

"Lilo, there's something you must know. When there's only a little bit of good inside someone, well, that good is up against allot. If it's not given some way of expressing itself, then that good can't hold out forever."

Sam reached his hand under Lilo's chin and brought it up so she was looking at his face.

"You saved Stitch, before it was too late for him. But it's already too late for the emperor."

"Ih!" Stitch yapped out in confirmation. He walked up to Lilo slowly and put his hands on her shoulders. This time he was met with no resistance.

"You saved me." Stitch said, looking right into Lilo's eyes. "You saved me and… I never… thanked you… like I should have… Lilo… Thank you."

Lilo collapsed into Stitch's embrace, and the shock, disbelief, and fright that dammed up her tears was gone. They now flowed like rivers, soaking Stitch's fur.

From over her shoulder, Stitch looked up at Sam.

"Promise me one thing Stitch." Sam said.

Stitch didn't answer, but only nodded his head in confirmation.

"Promise me that no matter how angry or sad this world ever makes you, promise me that you will never give up hope. If you do, if you loose hope entirely, than part of you will die, and you will become just like the emperor."

Stitch retorted loudly the instant Sam was done talking. "Stitch never give up hope! Stitch never be like emperor!"


	17. The Rebellion's Got a New Pair of Shoes

**A word on my writing**

I had always suspected that I was going to continue writing despite what I said. The reason being was not really your words of encouragement, or even any kind of principle. It was because I just can't not write. I write out of necessity, because whenever I'm not writing on a regular basis, I fall into a slump of depression and lethargy.  
Than why did I ask you for your support during this time? I believe I already stated that. I just needed to know that you people could sympathize with me. And believe me, what you said really helped, especially you BlueFox. You were the only one that seemed to actually try to relate to me on my own terms, rather than just offering a very demanding form of encouragement or villainizing Disney Channel. (although you did do some of that)  
So that said, let's get on with…

**Review Respones**

**To Travis Hicks:** You're whining isn't going to make me write any faster so just sit down and wait patiently like everyone else!

**To Xoverguy:** Let's just say I'm not the kind of person who would be inclined to write a romance between Lilo and Stitch. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against it, I'm even a furry! But that's just not my particular style. I leave that to other authors.  
Errr… I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but there are places and times in our world that really are 'that screwed up'. In fact I based chapter 16 on things I heard about the regime of Pol-Pot. You should look into it.

**To A. Nonymous:** If you can't think of why I can't take your suggestion, then try looking up a small series of documents called Copyright Laws.

**To Nukerjsr: **I'll say it one more time. When you read the final climax between Stitch and Emperor 626. I'm fairly sure that at least some of you will be thinking 'this guy has seen Kill Bill one too many times.'

* * *

The sky that morning was almost black with cloud cover, but not a single raindrop could be felt. Little could be heard over the wind except for voices, and no one was talking. Sam's hand now holding open the front door of the abandoned lava observatory, Stitch walked inside with his arms over Lilo's shoulders, and her head resting on his. Lilo would barely walk herself, Stitch almost had to drag her inside, and that's how it was the entire way up the stairs to the observatory. 

As soon as she was inside, Lilo pulled herself over to the wall just right of the door and plopped down against the wall, holding her chin in her hands. Considering Stitch's strength, it would be far from useless trying to drag Lilo away from that spot she was sulking in, but doing so would probably upset her, so he just sat next to her and laid his head on her shoulder.

The two of them barely noticed Sam coming in after them, or one of the rebels, a small man seemingly in his early twenties, looking at them from across the hall. Sam didn't seem to notice the other guy either, as he simply briskly through the now almost empty lobby toward one of the back rooms where Jumba's DVD still resided inside his laptop. Something stopped him. A hand pulled at his arm causing him to turn his head to he side and see one of the lower ranking rebels looking at him with a kind of unusual intensity for someone like himself.

Sam shrugged his arm, releasing it from the man's hand.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"Did you show her the center of the monument?"

Sam stared back at the man without answering.

"You didn't show her the center, did you?" He asked again, and again no answer. "You didn't show her did you… … You did didn't you?"

Sam's answer was quick an abrupt. "I don't believe in holding anything back."

Both of them turned their heads to look at Lilo and Stitch sitting, leaning against each other, just to the side of the main entrance. They were so still they looked like they were asleep, though from their eyes being so wide open, and the occasional blink, it was clear that they weren't.

"How did she react?" the man's voice only came out as a whisper. Both of them still stared at Lilo and Stitch as they talked.

"That's difficult to say."

"You were there weren't you?"

"Reacting to something like that is a process that takes days. Anything I can tell you about her reactions of the moment would be irrelevant. I can only tell you it's something she needed to see."

"And just why the hell did she need to see her parents shriveled heads in a jar?"

At last Sam looked back toward the young man, who then looked back at him.

"Just in case she has to live the rest of her life in this world, that was the only way she could truly understand what it would be like. And even if she returns to the world she once knew, it would be a constant reminder to her not to take what she has for granted."

The two of them stared at Lilo and Stitch for some time longer. Neither of them moved the entire time except to blink, and occasionally to take an especially deep breath. They each wondered what Lilo and Stitch must've been thinking about, if they were thinking about anything at all. It was strange seeing them coming back from such an experience and not really seeming emotional in any visible way. If anything, they just looked tired. An odd silence was shared between the two of them. Odder yet, such silences are usually ridden with anxiety, but it seemed their silence was more a way to escape from anxiety. If one of them said a word, they would both have to talk about anything and everything until they were too exhausted to even move their lips. It was much better to just wait until their thoughts were in order so any conversation would have a coherent direction. They both knew this, so they did nothing but lean against each other and remain silent.

Convinced that nothing more was going to happen that would be worth paying attention to, Sam turned away, but was once again stopped.

"Where are you going?" The young man asked.

"Back to my room." Sam answered. "Back to that disk."

Sam continued on his way until there was no longer any sight of him.

And so, the young man staring at Lilo and Stitch, thinking it best just to leave him be, also turned around and left, but not before pausing to look over his shoulder at them one last time.

Lilo and Stitch were now totally alone together. This was a sort of relief to both of them, though neither was sure why. Being alone it seemed easier not to think, not as to forced thoughts from one's mind, but simply to rest one's thoughts until they had enough energy and focus to do something productive with them.

A bolt of lightning flashed across one of the windows. Lilo's eyes darted up to see it. A few seconds later came the thunder. It was one of those slow thunders that sounded more like a very long rumble finalized by a light explosion, rather than the sudden cracking and recracking that are more commonplace.

It was too late now. That flash had focused the attention of Lilo and Stitch on something. Now with their attention focused, it couldn't be unfocused, and that led to the typical anxiety normally associated with long silence.

Both knew now that they would have to say something, and both their minds were a bustle with what they could possibly say that would have the least possible effect on their current mental states without sounding like they were trying to avoid the subject they both knew they were trying to avoid.

Stitch managed to beat Lilo to it.

"It is not good… to sit on cement floor." Stitch said. "Too cold."

"Where do you think we should go?" Lilo asked back. Neither of them moved a muscle except their lips when talking.

"Somewhere to… rest."

"The balcony over the lava flow sounds good."

Still leaning against each other, Lilo and Stitch got up and began walking out of the room.

* * *

On the way to the balcony, Lilo and Stitch had attracted some attention from those whom they passed by. Though none of them dared to stop and talk to them, most stopped what they were doing to follow them. It was just as well for Lilo and Stitch, they continued as if nothing were happening. 

When they were finally at the balcony, sitting down on the ledge, each leaning against a column that supported the rail, their legs dangling down over the sides, a number of people had gathered in the room just behind it, all looking at them.

"Do you think she'll be ok?" One of them asked.

"If anyone can get her over what she saw, Stitch can." Another assured the first one.

"Quiet, their talking." Whispered a third harshly.

Lilo and Stitch could both feel the heat from the distant lava crawling up their legs like dripping water, only this water would drip upward. It was only a slight heat from the distance they were away from it. This was good though. With the sky clouded over for the past two days the sun was not there to heat the ground, and it had become pretty cold. It felt good to have their legs and feet warm while the rest of them was cool, it was usually the opposite, and that was an unpleasant sensation.

Despite the clouds for the past two days, it had not rained that entire time, and the lava flowed like honey with only a thin, rippled black skin. While it was true that the best lava to observe was the nameless state in between A'a and Pahoehoe, given a choice between the two, the liquid form was definitely preferred by vast majority. Lava could do many things with one's mind. To Nani it was once a way of becoming hypnotized and forgetting about the rest of the world, but to Lilo and Stitch right now, it seemed actually as a catalyst for their attention spans. It was so much easier to focus staring at that glowing orange stuff, and better focus meant a better ability to deal with what they both knew they were going to have to talk about.

"Lilo?" Stitch asked.

"Yes?"

Stitch blinked a few times before continuing, as if not knowing exactly what to say at that moment, even though he did. "What was real reason, for wanting to save parents?"

Lilo sighed an closed her eyes, only to find that doing so blocked the view of the lava, and was slowly bringing her back to the confused state she was once in, so she opened them again.

"I told you." Lilo said. "I wanted to have a whole family again."

"Naga… Lilo does have whole family. Me, Nani, Jumba, and Pleakly."

"No Stitch." Lilo sighed. "It's different. A whole family is a family where you haven't lost anyone."

Stitch flicked his ears on reflex, and then blinked. Was Lilo saying that even with all these people who cared so much about her, even with him, her life was incomplete? It made him begin to wonder whether or not he was really that important to her.

"Is family broken, even with us?"

"No!" Lilo yelled out, turning toward Stitch, expecting to find him looking at the lava, but instead he was looking at her. This made her a bit self-conscious and she lowered her head.

"No." Lilo whispered. "I have a wonderful family with all of you. I couldn't wish for a better family…"

Stitch saw his opportunity to punch a hole right through Lilo's logic, and he didn't hesitate to take it. "Family either broke or not broke, which?"

"No!" Lilo saw what Stitch was trying to do, and she didn't like it. What if he proved her wrong after all? What if he proved that she had a complete family and a complete life even without her parents? There would be then no reason o her to have tried to save them. "No Stitch! It's not the same without mom and dad! There's just something missing without them."

"What is it?" Stitch asked, knowing she would never be able to answer that question.

As expected, Lilo just stared at her dumbfounded. What was missing in her life, a mother and father, that's what! But she knew that's not what Stitch meant. What did her parents once give her that she didn't have with him, and Jumba, and Pleakly. Lilo was at a loss for an explanation.

It was strange that she felt something was missing in her life, even though logically there shouldn't be. Try as she might, Lilo couldn't think of any answer that would satisfy. Stitch had won. He had beaten her.

"What do you think is missing Stitch?" Lilo said, in an only implied admission of defeat.

"Meega konota gaba?" Stitch hesitated, and rightfully so. His ears drew back and his eyes squinted in thought. Even at this point, his mastery of the English language wasn't enough to adequately explain something as abstract as what he was thinking. He knew exactly what to say, but couldn't find the words for it. It would have to something more than just words than. If he could only explain simple concepts, than he would have to do more than just explain what he was thinking.

Lilo stared at Stitch, waiting amazingly patiently for his answer. And then it came to him. His ears rose, and his eyes brightened. He turned back toward Lilo

"Is Naga outside where Lilo was missing something… but was inside."

Stitch pressed his paw up against the center of Lilo's chest, just below the neck. Lilo looked down at that paw. She watched it as it lowly lifted itself off of her chest and lay back down on the floor. She understood instantly what Stitch was trying to get at. It wasn't the absence of her parents that made her feel so empty, because Stitch had made her family and her life whole again she didn't need to feel empty. It could then only be something self-imposed. But that still didn't explain what it was.

Lilo looked back into Stitch's face with a confused and barely sad expression. He knew exactly what that meant. She needed more of an explanation than what he gave her. This was getting more and more difficult to clarify by the moment, for both of them. But somehow they had to find a way to accurately describe what was so wrong with Lilo, or else they might never know. Stitch sighed, wondering if this was a task he would be capable of.

Something extraordinary happened just then. The words came to Stitch. Everything he needed to tell Lilo what he thought in depth were right there, and all he had to do was say them. This was something that had never happened before, and it amazed Stitch more than anyone else. But he didn't know how long this moment of clarity would last, or if such a thing would ever happen again, so there was no time to marvel at it. He had to talk, and he had to talk right now.

"Stitch think Lilo never let Lilo get over crash and parents."

Lilo looked over at Stitch. What he said had just struck a nerve. It made her pulse race and her hair stand on end. What about those words could be causing that kind of fear. The only explanation was that they were true.

"I didn't let myself get over their deaths?" Lilo asked.

"Ih."

"But why would I do that to myself?"

"Only Lilo can answer that."

Lilo turned her head back to the lava, searching for why she would deliberately put herself through that kind of pain. It only took a few seconds of digging to find the answer.

"I think it was because if I got over it, that would mean I didn't really care, and then that would make me a bad person."

"Oh… Naga!" Stitch said shaking his head at Lilo. "Naga bad person. Naga not care."

Lilo just barely started to cry as she spoke. "How would you know?"

"Because, Lilo always be sure to remember them. With pictures, with uhmmm… books and cards and things."

"You mean their journals and IDs?"

"Ih!"

"Then there was also that little Elvis Bhudda, dad's old sunglasses, and his trashy surfboard."

"Ih!"

"And… don't forget mom's old hula trophy."

"Ih! Is now lamp! Remember?"

"I can't count how many times that thing got broke."

"But Lilo always fix it."

Lilo sighed. Her tears just now beginning to give way, she looked back down at the flowing lava. A bubble rose up from the rippled black skin and popped releasing a puff of thick black smoke.

"It's very, very strange." Lilo whispered to herself, but Stitch overheard.

"Gaba?"

Lilo jumped a bit turning back toward Stitch.

"Oh. It's just, I'm thinking about them, but I'm not sad."

"Gabaga?" Stitch said, tilting his head to the side.

"Well, that's never happened before." Lilo turned back toward the lava before continuing. "I think, if they have to die I that accident, I won't feel bad about it."

Stitch racked his brain for something to say that would fit the moment. That was odd though. He wondered if his moment of clarity had finally faded away. But he realized it was still there, and that he couldn't think of anything to say because there was nothing to say that would be better than silence. So he too turned back toward the lava, both of them watching it drift by until a few shadows finally overtook them.

Lilo and Stitch climbed back up and turned around to see quite a few young rebels standing right behind them. One by one, as if they were all the same person, they began to speak.

"You know, if you're gonna' go back an' change history, then that means you're gonna' change all our lives too."

"That means none of us will ever meet each other, or you two."

"But before the Pacific Empire, we all had lives and homes and families of our own, just like what you described. Not anymore. The emperor took all that away from us."

"I'd much rather have my old life back, even if it means we won't rememba' any of each otha', or you."

"I think that can be said about all of us."

With nothing more to be said, Everyone on the balcony, Lilo and Stitch, and all the young rebels turns back to watch the lava flowing by.

* * *

"We can't make a move until the troops' weakness is found! It's too dangerous I told you!" 

Sam shouted out at some stocky middle-aged Tongan rebel while banging his fist into the side of the wall. It felt a bit softer than hitting a wall should've. He looke to his side and found that his hand went straight through the drywall and had landed on one of the beams, but even that cracked with the force of his fist.

Sam instantly regained his composure, drew his hand from he wall and used it to slick back his unkempt fro. It took him a second to realize just where he was what with his sudden outburst. He was inside his dark office looking through that slideshow again, the one of the imperial soldier's anatomy. He went through that thing time and time again, hoping to find something, anything that he could use against those things. Then this guy had the audacity to burst into the room and tell him that they needed to strike at Capitol City A-S-A-F-P.

"No!" The Tongan shouted back. "Waitin' hea's too dangerous. What wit' 'dat traita' among us."

"How do you know Nani's even got her facts straight on that huh?"

"You wanna' take 'dat risk, fine, not me. I don' wanna' have nut'n to do wid' it! And now's da' time cause de' empora's not gotten' back yet."

That was true. After the emperor's skirmish with Stitch three day's back, no one's heard or knows anything about his whereabouts. Considering his incredible power though, he was certainly alive, somewhere.

"We gotta' hit 'em before 'de empora' gets back ta' Capitol City, and before whoever's blabbin' to 'de empia' tells them whea' we are!"

Sam clenched his fists and clenched his teeth. He knew the Tongan was right. There would never be a better time to attack Capitol City than right now, and if Nani was right, if there was someone among them who's spilling their guts to the Pacific Empire on a daily basis, than this needs to be done A-S-A-F-P, just like this guy said.

Sam stared this man right in the eyes. The intensity was clearly there. He really believed what he was saying, and was ready to follow it through to the end.

Sam breathed heavily and relaxed his shoulders so he wouldn't yell when he talked. "Somehow I get the feeling Emperor 626 only wants us to think his whereabouts are unknown. Regardless, if we're going to fight imperial enemies, we need imperial weapons, and every attempt to buy, steal, or con any for ourselves has been a dismal failure."

"Every time we tried ta' steal 'dem before, we didn't have Stitch, or Skyboat Blue."

He was right, every time they tried to steal imperial technology, they never did have Stitch, or Skyboat Blue.

* * *

The moment seemed perfect. Lilo sat in the lap of a young woman, where she could just look over and see Stitch sitting in the lap of some young man. Though everyone there were strangers to Lilo and Stitch, seen many times, but never having had a serious conversation with, they already felt like they had known these people for years. And everyone was content simply to sit or stand there and watch the lava oozing by below. This was the most content Lilo had felt in a long time. Stitch could sense this, he could sense it in his gut, and he could sense it in his nose. Lilo's relaxation in turn relaxed Stitch, and this was now the most content he had felt in while as well. 

The moment was perfect. But as so many times before, as always, the moment had the unfortunate habit of not lasting very long.

Sam swung open the sliding glass door to the balcony so hard that the glass shattered upon the frame's impact with the wall. Everyone jumped up with their hands at their pistols or knives, some of them even yelping as they did it, but then stared perplexed to see that their invader was in fact Sam Winnfield.

"I need to see Stitch." Sam said with a kind of quiet ferocity that frightened even those who knew him for years.

Stitch stepped forward nervously, his ears swept back and his hands clasped and just resting against his chest.

"We're going on a mission, and you need to dress in something classy."

* * *

The clouds had now cleared over a two-lane freeway hugging the southeast coast of Big Island. It had just rained and the air seemed fresher than it usually did, almost as fresh as the average day of the old Hawaii. All the plants seemed to sparkle in the dew, and only one thing seemed truly out of place. 

A small convoy of five matte black semi trucks drove down the freeway from Capitol City to Hawaii-03, or what used to be the sizable town of Honuapo. In front and back, two matte black tanks escorted the convoy through down the highway. At least they looked like tanks. They were much smaller than what one would think when hearing the word tank. They were almost as small as minivans, and also unlike tanks, their surfaces were not at all boxlike, but sported stylish curves, not a single sharp angle would be found on them. Above the convoy, a single skyboat flew just ten feet above the third of the five semis.

Everything moved in perfect synchronization. If you didn't see the space between the vehicles, than you might conclude that there was only one missive vehicle there.

The convoy slowed to a halt at a sight in front of them.

The doors on the sides of the two front tanks slid open much like those of their airborne counterparts, and two imperial soldiers cautiously stepped out with plasma carbines in hand to see in person their greeters.

There were two other imperial soldiers staring back at them, each with two carbines, one in each hand. That might not have been surprising, but what was definitely surprising was who was standing right I between these soldiers. It was the emperor! He stood motionless wrapped in an orange shawl that seemed more like a robe on such small body, with that smug-ass smirk he always sported, and his head raised as if to say _I'm better than you!_

Emperor 626 had been found it seemed, but the soldiers were hesitant. The emperor's facsimile wasn't exactly secret knowledge, but the emperor was missing, and in the end, the instincts of the soldiers overruled logical thought, and they holstered their carbines, and knelt down.

At that instant, the costumed rebels beside Stitch fired their carbines at the kneeling soldiers, throwing their bodies what had to be thirty feet backward. Stitch threw off his shawl, sporting a plasma carbine of his own, and he and the rebels bombarded the skyboat with Plasma.

But the shields of the skyboat couldn't be overwhelmed before it opened fire and left nothing but craters where the two rebels once stood. The blasts knocked Stitch back with singed ears and the carbine flew from his hands.

In that time, the two tanks in the back had pulled up front and aimed their guns at Stitch, as had the skyboat. Stitch looked up at so many plasma cannons aimed right at him. His ears drooped and he went wide-eyed and wide jawed. That this was going to hurt would be the understatement of the day. But the instincts of the imperial soldiers couldn't be ignored so easily. They hesitated before firing at Stitch. They hesitated for several seconds.

This was just long enough for a sudden small earthquake to strike. No! It wasn't an earthquake. Something big was pushing its way up from underneath the sand of the beach just to the left of the freeway.

It was Skyboat Blue, coming out blasting all of its guns at once.


	18. The Point of No Turning Back

**Review Response:**

I have only one review response time. That's because most of the chapter 17 reviews were little more than showers of praise. And while I do love showers of praise, their not exactly the best material for writing review responses.

**To A. Nonymous:** You're going to be so surprised when you find out who the traitor is. And if anyone thinks they know, DON'T SAY IT GODDAMMIT!

**Other News:** I've just updated my profile. It includes a new favorite show, a new reccomended author for you all to check out, and I have ever so slightly softened my harsh words on crossovers for those who are sensitive to harsh words. Please note the phrase 'ever so slightly' and take that into careful consideration.

* * *

There was the sound of metal scraping against metal. A loud pop. A crack formed in the darkness and light flooded in. With a rattling noise, the crack widened. At last, the door to the back of the semi flew open. Dust clouded up at the impact of the door against the top of the hold, and at last, and as soon as the slight irritation it caused one's eyes subsided, you could see everything in the back of the semi. 

It was filled with boxes. Large, gray plastic boxes with the black sword in anvil logo painted on each of he four sides and on the lid. There were racks on wheels made of metal that could be pulled out and pushed back where the boxes were kept inside. Two huge arms pulled out one of the racks, and then wrapped around the sides of one of the boxes. These arms pulled the box out of its rack and set it on the pavement of the side of the road. After he was done, Sam wiped the sweat from his brow and looked up at the sun beating down on him. It had been out for less than half an hour and the temperature had already rose from a chilly sixty to a hundred and one. For a moment, Sam wanted his old bald and clean shaven head back. And his shades. But that head was too easily recognized, so he had to go about shadeless with his uneven beard and messy fro.

Only a moment's wandering could be afforded to Sam's mind. In a snap he was back to where he was, staring down at that box. His hands brought themselves down onto the lid and unsnapped the sides from their grip on the box. But he hesitated to lift the lid, almost as if he was afraid of not getting what he was hoping for. Once again, time was of the essence, and Sam forced a moment's hesitation to cease. He threw the lid behind him with one hand and forced his eyes not to look away, but he didn't need to do any of that.

Inside the box was exactly what Sam had wanted there to be. Neatly piled was the black armored suit of an imperial soldier. To the side, a plasma carbine with three ammo tanks fresh from the assembly line not a day before.

Sam stood up and turned around toward two young rebels probably not even twenty one yet. They had a kind of worried look on their faces to make you think that expression was perpetual. But seeing a tiny smile crack the lips of, and those expressions melted into those of relief.

"Pay dirt." Sam said quickly, and just loud enough to be heard.

He looked over to the side, to the beach where Skyboat Blue was now parked on the sand, open door toward the semis now stuck between two piles of smoking rubble and shredded road. Two more rebels, again no older than twenty one hopped out of the door and toward Sam. They carried shovels and pickaxes, not stopping to ogle at their newfound toys, they went to work trying to clear away the debree from the road, to smooth out the shredded pavement, and to fill in all the holes in the road with dirt and sand.

One person was left in Skyboat Blue, staring out over the scene with as if her mind was wondering, Lilo dressed in her Imperial brand gray t-shirt and baggy shorts. Stitch, carbine still in hand, quickly ran up along side her. Lilo's head turned only for a moment toward him. She patted him on the head as she looked back toward that semi, bring out a slight content smile from him.

A shadow overtook Lilo and Stitch, causing Lilo to jump. Sam was standing right in front of her, but not looking at her. Lilo carefully got out of Skyboat Blue and stood next to him. She looked up at what it was he was looking at. A small hole bore in the hull of Skyboat blue from a plasma blast that just happened to make it through the shields while they stuttered being nearly overloaded. Inside, Lilo could see the circuitry within the walls, and wires, hundreds of them, thinner than a human hair, sprung out from beneath the circuitry and were now mending the broken circuit plates and reconnecting the severed threads. A few slightly thicker wires protruded from beneath the circuitry as well, those were busily pasting up he hole in the hull with a kind of gum that would later harden into ceramic.

"Amazing." Sam whispered. "It's repairing itself."

Sam shook his head afterward and stepped inside Skyboat Blue, and just s quickly stepped outside with a pickaxe and shovel in hand. About to join the others in clearing out the road, he stopped and turned toward Stitch.

"Your help would make this go allot faster." Sam said.

Stitch nodded his head, tossed his carbine back into Skyboat Blue and ran toward the others, tossing aside bits of metal and pavement with his hands.

Lilo walked over to the plastic box that still lay on the ground. No one was there to see her do it. Everyone was busy trying to clear away the road so that they could drive over it once more. Lilo was free to do whatever she wanted with this box now.

It was that black armor, the armor of one of those things. Only now it was neatly stacked inside a box where it could never hurt her, unless she hurt herself with it on accident. Still, there was something innately frightening about this stuff. It was a different kind of fright though. Not of when you are facing down a threat, but more of there may be a threat just around the corner but you can't know until you look. Even though there was no reason for this, that black suit was just an inanimate object. And her curiosity eventually got the better of her.

Lilo first picked up that carbine. She had seen those blue skinned soldiers use those things several times. They always held in so casually at their hips, always firing from the hip. They never seemed to become tense or anxious. It was clear that they had no sense of self preservation. That was both their greatest strength and their greatest weakness, at least until their so called 'flaw' could be dug up by Sam. She looked in the back of the carbine, a round orifice where an ammo tank could be fitted. This carbine wasn't loaded. She held it up to her shoulder and pointed it at distant tree. Her hands were not trained to be still, nor did she know how to breath when pointing a gun, so her aim wobbled relentlessly. Not knowing how to use this thing, of course, aiming was all she could do. Only Stitch and those he taught knew how to use these things, and he refused to teach her. She put the carbine back into the box where she found it.

Her attention was next draw to that helmet. She'd seen that thing close up twice, on the head on one of the emperor's soldiers. Both times were racked with fear like she had never known. Her heart beat faster just looking at that thing. It was empty and sitting there waiting to be played with like a toy, but to Lilo it was like looking at a black widow, something you generally want to see, but only from several feet away, and most definitely something you wouldn't want to touch.

But again, curiosity overwhelmed her. Lilo reached down to pick up that helmet. Something fell out of it and hit the chestplate below with a clacking sound. Instinctively, Lilo gasped and dropped the helmet, and dived back. It took a few seconds for Lilo to recover from her rapid, shallow breathing, and she slowly crawled forward to see what just had happened.

The helmet lay crookedly in the box in two parts. Lilo remembered she was able to pull off the mask of one of those soldiers while the rest of the helmet stayed on. She brushed the helmet aside and looked at that mask. She picked it up. It was cold. It felt like plastic. She looked right at that thing and it looked right back at her. Something about that gas mask just didn't look right, the shape of the eyepieces, the shape and placement of the filters, the color. It looked angry, that is if a gas mask could have an expression, but this one looked angry. A perpetually angry artificial face staring at you, just one of the many tools used to induce fear.

Something touched Lilo's shoulder. She dropped the mask and screeched, trying to claw her way away from whatever it was. In an instant, she was wrapped in a familiar warmth of a familiar blue fur.

"Is just Stitch." A voice cried out. "Is ok."

Lilo continued to try to claw her way out of this net, until it dawned on her what just happened. That was Stitch's hand she felt. Stitch had his arms wrapped around her right now. Lilo relaxed and leaned back into Stitch. After a few seconds, he released Lilo, and she turned around to see him and Sam staring at her peculiarly.

"What?" Lilo asked. "What's wrong?"

Sam looked down at the mask next to Lilo, and then back up at her. "How long have you been staring at that thing?"

Lilo looked at the mask, but didn't look back up. "I don't know, how long has it been?"

"Just over twenty minutes."

Lilo looked back up at Sam stunned, and then at Stitch, who nodded his head to agree with Sam.

"Twenty minutes?" Lilo asked. "I was looking at that thing for twenty minutes?"

"The road has been cleared, we need that box repacked so we can drive these trucks to our rendezvous outside Capitol City."

"What happens there?"

"There, we launce an all or nothing suicide attack on the emperor's palace. Every willing resistance member on all the big island has gathered there, over a thousand in all."

"Over a thousand!" Lilo gasped out with wide eyes.

Sam looked down at her with a kind of arrogant smile and laughed once under his breath before answering. "Most of the resistance members are spread out throughout the islands. Very few of them have actually been to any of our bases, or even participated in one of our missions. Like I said, this is all or nothing."

Sam knelt down to pick up the mask and helmet that Lilo had dropped on the ground. He put them back inside the box and replaced the lid before picking it up. Just as he was about to replace in inside its rack, he turned his head to Lilo and Stitch.

"You'd best be getting inside the truck, we're leaving as soon as possible."

* * *

Nobody had said anything for the last half hour. Lilo, Stich and Sam were focused plainly on the road ahead from within their lead point semi. The sun was falling almost right in front of them and the sky they looked at was turning orange. Sam was leaning forward and his whole body seemed strung like a rubber band about to snap. This confused both Lilo and Stitch. Mr. cool and collected was now so tense it looked like he was going to rip the steering wheel right off its bar. Neither of them knew why. Sam could almost on reflex relax his body in a combat situation, but something about what they were about to do now, combined with an awkward silence that managed to last the past half hour just made him incredibly uneasy. 

If silence was what was upsetting Sam, then perhaps breaking that silence would get his to relax just a bit. Even if whatever was said wasn't directed at him, It should still work. Stitch knew this. That was partially why he suddenly spoke up, but the main reason was because of exactly what it was he had to say.

"Lilo." Stitch spoke just loud enough to be heard.

"What is it Stitch." Lilo answered, looking his way. From her face, from her voice, from her smell, it was clear to Stitch that Lilo was just as tense as Sam was. But Stitch had waited too long for the perfect moment to say this, only to realize that moment would never come, and so he would say it at the last possible moment, this moment, so he had to say it now or else it would never be said.

"When we fight palace, Lilo," Stitch continued. "When we fight, you need to be… away."

Stitch's grasp of English still wasn't perfect, and it took Lilo a second to realize just what Stitch was saying. _You have to be far, far away when the attack on the emperor's palace, and not get involved._

"No!" Lilo shouted. "Stitch I wanna be there with you!"

"Meega nota." Stitch said, shaking his head. "But if… if emperor… if emperor gets Lilo… Stitch cannot fight."

That was pitiful attempt at explaining what he was thinking. Stitch knew this without even having to look at Lilo's bewildered face. It was fortunate that someone there understood exactly what he was getting at.

"I believe what Stitch is trying to say…" Sam said, not looking away from the window or even moving his head beyond his lips. "is that if Emperor 626 gets ahold of you, he could use you against Stitch. If that were to happen, it would be impossible for Stitch to win."

"But Emperor 626 is still missing!" Lilo yelled at Sam and slammed her palms against the genuine artificial leather seats. "How could he get me if he's still missing!"

"Is he really missing Lilo?" Sam responded. "Or does he just want us to think he's missing. Whether he is or is not, Emperor 626 knows we have Skyboat Blue, and he knows that because of this, our operations will be far more daring than we ever dreamed of before. He may even be expecting what we have now. That's why this is all or nothing, and that's why every willing member of the resistance will be involved."

Lilo's eyes began to tear up. She grabbed Stitch by the shoulders and pulled him into her arms rather uncomfortably.

"I don't care!" She screamed out. "I don't care I'm going with you!"

"Naga! Naga! Naga!" Stitch yelled back. He pushed Lilo away and back into her seat. "Is 'nother reason too."

"What?"

"If Stitch fight emperor, Stitch must fight alone."

"Why?"

"Stitch must fight emperor alone."

"But Why do you have to do that."

Stitch sighed. For once, he had the exact words to express perfectly what he was thinking, even more so than in his extraordinary moment of clarity just that morning. He had the exact words because he had spend the past week thinking of what they would be.

"Because, the emperor is my evil. He is my evil, naga anyone else's."

Lilo slumped back into her seat and buried her face in her hands. As much as she hated to admit it, it seemed Stitch was right, moreover it seemed Stitch was going to have his way. Until…

"As much as I agree with Stitch's reasoning, and I do, there are certain factors we simply cannot ignore. Factors that mean, despite however much I hate to say it, Lilo must accompany you during this attack."

Sam at last turned his head toward Stich when he finished his last sentence. Stitch took one glance at Sam and knew he was more serious now than Stitch had ever seen him before. But that still wasn't enough.

"Naga!" Stitch yelled out. "Lilo stay behind! Lilo stay at base!"

"I wish that could be done." Sam replied. "But think. First and foremost, what will this mission be about."

"Defeat emperor!" Stitch instantly barked back.

"Wrong!" Sam said, almost shouting himself this time. "It seems you've gotten so used to this world that you've forgotten it's not the world you came from. What this mission is about, first and foremost, is changing the past, so that you never become the emperor to begin with, and restoring the present to what you know it once was.

"Think about this Stitch. If we succeed in this task, and you are able to get back Dr. Jumba's time machine, how long do you think you'll be able to keep it? Long enough to bring it back to our HQ? You know as well as I do that as soon as we attack that palace, reinforcements from all over the Pacific Empire will be called in to fight it. Thousands of skyboats, millions of troops, and all of them will be after you. Not even you can fend off that kind of attack.

"Jumba's time machine must be used as soon as it's found. And that means both you and Lilo have to be there as soon as it's found."

Stitch drooped his ears and lowered his head. It was true, what Sam was saying. Every word he spoke was true. Especially what Sam said about him was truest of all. Though not in knowledge, but in spirit, he really had forgotten what this world was. This world was a mistake, the result of irresponsibly playing with time. Worst of all, this world was partially Stitch's own fault. Though what led to it was Lilo's idea, he had gone along unquestioningly with everything she said, knowing all the while he shouldn't be, and in the end it was he who made the critical move of rescuing Lilo's parents from a fatal accident, causing this whole mess to begin with.

* * *

The small convoy of semi's slowed and finally stopped before the roadblock in front of them. It was massive. There were hundreds of small gray sedans, and hundreds more of those gray minivans. The people there were so many Lilo couldn't count. Stitch counted though, he took one glance at the scene and counted one thousand four hundred and seven in all, and he was sure he couldn't see everyone. 

Small tents and large tents and tables and boxes and chairs were set up alongside the road. Night had fallen by now, a cloudless night, but the distant lights of Capitol City obscured all but the brightest of stars. Even so, is was dark where it was, so the makeshift town as it looked was lit up with road flares, flashlights and petroleum lamps at every table and inside every tent. The bustle of activity was crazy. The people moving to and fro with their boxes and their raw materials looked like the commotion of ants scrambling to repair a damaged nest. Neither Lilo nor Stitch had ever seen anything like it before. Everyone worked silently and relentlessly, and so efficiently that there was never a single argument or mistake.

Stitch turned toward Sam and started tugging on his arm.

"Ih! Ih. Ih. Ih. Ih. Ih." Stitch sounded out to Sam, as he did whenever he wanted someone's attention.

Sam turned toward Stitch with a single eyebrow raised. "What is it Stitch?"

Stitch turned back toward the sight in front of him and pointed out the windshield of the truck, and then looked back at Sam. "Gabaga people work so gooder?"

"That's what I was about to ask." Lilo butted in.

Sam gave a single laugh under his breath and answered. "Group dynamics one-o-one, the more dire he situation, the better the group works together. Situations don't get much more dire than this. Especially since we have to get this all done and out of here before the sun rises."

"Why" "Gabaga?" Lilo and Stitch asked in unison.

"Because," Sam answered. "that's usually how long it takes for a gathering like this to get noticed by the emperor's satellites. And gatherings like this are usually gassed by the emperor's orders. Not to mention with this missing convoy, they'll be on high alert for anything suspicious."

A lump formed in the throats of both Lilo and Stitch that couldn't be swallowed. No wonder everyone was working so frantically, they were working with a lethal alarm clock poised on them.

Sam opened the door to his truck and hopped out. Lilo and Stitch soon followed. When they got out they saw Sam with a bullhorn in front of that makeshift town ready to give out what they were sure was going to be some sort of impromptu inspirational speech.

"If I may have your attention," Sam spoke through the bullhorn, but no one stopped what they were doing or even slowed down. The most Sam go was glances and nods from the majority of the crowd, but that was enough to sign that they were in fact, paying attention. Sam continued. "With the help of Stitch we have hijacked a shipment of imperial armored suits along with their weapons. We will use these when we launch our assault on the emperor's palace."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Someone from the crowd yelled out. It was impossible to tell who. "We don't know how to use those things."

"They come with their own operation manuals." Sam replied through his bullhorn.

"Yeah, but I bet they're all written in that crazy alien Tantalog language!" Another voice from the crowd rang out.

"Stitch read through the manuals." Sam assured them. "He understands these devices, and he will instruct you on their use."

Sam dropped his bullhorn and walked up to Stitch.

"Can you teach them how to use the empire's technology?" He asked.

"Ih!" Stitch answered with a quick nod.

"Good."

Without another word or glance, Sam turned around and walked into the crowed, quickly disappearing as just another of those who were working to unpack the trucks and arm everyone in the compound. Work continued like this for hours. Soon enough, everyone was wearing one of those black suits. Soon enough, ranks were formed of people learning about the various functions of those suits and their carbines from Stitch. They would in turn teach other ranks and so on until everyone there was experimenting with their new toys.

All the while, Lilo was in the middle of this doing not much of anything. This was getting to be too much for her. All those black suits walking around her, sometimes passing within only feet of her. It was nerve wracking for sure. Lilo tried as best she could to calm herself, reassuring herself that those were real human beings underneath those masks. It did her some good, but what she couldn't shake at that time was the more she watched those suits move around, the more interpolated all the sounds around her became. Lilo had decided a while back that she was going to go inside one of those tents so she wouldn't have to see those black gas masks any more. Now she was trying to remember what it was she had planned on doing. Those masks were slowly getting bigger. A slight numbness was felt in all of Lilo's extremities. She needed to do something quick, but couldn't remember what it was. Lilo's surroundings seemed to be growing darker, with the exception of those masks, which she could still see as I they were in daylight. It was something about those Masks that she needed to do, but what was it? Lilo felt her chest tightening up. What the hell was it she was trying to accomplish just moments ago? It had something to do with sight, or lack of it. The noises around her melded into a painful buzzing and all of those masks suddenly pointed in her direction. What was she going to do? She couldn't remember, so what was there left to do other than… scream.

Lilo pushed her eyes closed and screamed as loud as she could into the night sky. She screamed until her lungs were empty and she was left gasping for breath.

What had just happened? Everyone was staring at her now, staring at her in those strange black gas masks that the imperial soldiers wore. It was an uncomfortable feeling to have everyone staring at her like that, especially when they were all covered by those masks. It wasn't until one man took off his helmet and revealed his face that Lilo finally understood what had happened. For a moment she had forgotten just where she was, and for a moment she was back in some horrid exodus of the emperor's troops coming after her. It was all over now though. It was over now that she saw that there really was a real human being behind those things. But everyone was still staring at her, and the anxiety of that alone pulled all the words right out of her throat, leaving her silent.

"What the hell was that?" A voice rang out from seemingly nowhere.

Lilo looked too and fro until he saw another man, this time not wearing any armor at all. It was Sam.

It was a slight bit of a shock to suddenly see him. It was enough of a shock to enable Lilo to breathe again, and to speak again, albeit however unintelligibly.

"The masks… the suits… they were… staring… they were… big… they were… they were… them…"

That was all Lilo managed to stutter out.

Lilo heard soft footsteps to her side. She turned her head to look. It was Stitch walking toward her, squinting his eyes and rubbing his ears with his hands.

"What's wrong with him?" Someone asked, it was impossible to tell who, so Lilo answered to no one in particular.

"I'm sorry." She said. "Stitch is sensitive to high pitched sounds."

"What did you say?"

That was Sam talking. He had heard those words, _Stitch is sensitive to high pitched sounds_, and something in his head snapped open.

"Loud screechy noises make his head hurt." Lilo reiterated.

That brought Sam's attention back to Jumba's disk, back to the slight show. The inner of the imperial soldier was constructed the exact same way as that of the emperor himself. As a result, the hybrid troops had hearing just as acute as the emperor's, just as acute as Stitch's. That was it! That was the troops' inborn flaw! That was what could possibly be used to turn the tide of an attack on the Pacific Empire toward the attackers.

"Don't be sorry Lilo." Sam said, half yelling, half whispering. "You may have just saved us all."

"Huh?" "Gaba?" Lilo and Stitch said in unison.

Sam ignored the inquiries and hopped into the first van within arm's reach. One of the rebels ran up to him and grabbed the door of the van before he could shut it.

"What the hell are you doing?" He yelled out.

"Going shopping." Sam answered in his usual unperturbed voice.

"Then who's going to lead the assault?"

"You are."

Sam yanked the door out of the young rebel's hands and slammed it shut. He turned on the van and took off as fast as he could down the freeway toward Capitol City, ahead of everyone else.

This at last was enough to bring about a halt to the crowd's activities. Everyone was staring now at the young rebel to whom Sam had just given authority over their most critical mission ever, a short, nineteen year old blonde girl with freckles and thick-rimmed glasses. She looked more like college freshman bookworm social outcast than a soldier. Yet in a moment's notice, and for no other reason than convenience, Sam Winnfield had given her control over the assault against the emperor's palace.

The irony was not lost on anyone, not even Lilo, who stared at the short little girl bewildered.

Even so, there was a job to do, and she wasn't about to let anyone slack off.

"You heard him! I'm in charge now! Everyone get back to work!"

They all obeyed without question or hesitation.


	19. All or Nothing

** Review Responses**

**To A. Nonymous: **I am quite familiar with the technique of the Deus Ex Machina. Although until now I didn't know it actually had a name.  
Like I said before. All my stories are pretty much planned out completely before I type a single key. This means that any suggestion you have for me, unless it's very small, or something to do with my style, probably won't be put into the story.  
Oh and believe me, learning who the traitor really is WILL be great.

**To hamishwarfare:** I really didn't think that would work! Thank you for taking my blatant self-advertisement to heart! I actually do appreciate it.

* * *

A procession was slowly marching down the central street of Capitol City toward the great imperial palace. It was a procession to welcome back Emperor 626 after his week of absence. It was a small procession, but it was what one would've expected from such an occurrence. A procession consisting of only the most essential security elements rather than something grandiose to welcome him back. It seems the Emperor wanted to understate his return to the castle, and one couldn't blame him, as his disappearance would be an embarrassment to his leadership.

The procession marched down the street. At front was an old wooden black and cherry red carriage with navy drapes over the windows, being drawn not by horses, but by a force of eight people, more specifically eight scantily clad women, as a further testament to the emperor's insatiable vanity even during a time when he seemed to want to keep a low profile. Eight imperial soldiers walked in formation along side the carriage and thirty two more in front. Behind the carriage were squares of marching soldiers that stretched roughly a city block. A little over a thousand of them would be a rough estimate. At last, in the very back of the procession, driving slowly down the road, was a flatbed semi with its large contents draped over by a dark gray tarp, weighed down with cinderblocks to the sides of the flatbed.

In the carriage itself sat two more imperial soldiers in the back seat, clinging their plasma carbines to their chests looking like they were ready to explode into action at any moment. Emperor 626 himself was a contradiction of his soldiers, sitting utterly relaxed in the front's only cushy cherry-leather. The emperor, in his classic folded napkin hat, and wrapped in an orange robe, lazily puffed away at a large cigar with his one exposed hand, adorned with almost eight gold, jewel studded rings. The emperor laid back all the way against his chair and puffed at his cigar with eyes half closed in a look of pure indulgence.

Beside him, a dwarf draped in all black with only his eyes showing held up a plain white, porcelain platter filled with snacks like toasted pineapple rings, and albacore sashimi, which the emperor would occasionally stab with his claw and then slurp down his throat.

It was all too big to be a march, and all too small to be a parade.

The procession didn't go unnoticed. People came out of the doors of their apartment highrises, out onto their balconies to see what could only be the return of the emperor. Everyone stared in awe and shock at the small procession going down the central street, but mostly they stared at that carriage where the emperor himself must've been residing. Curious as they may have been though, none of the residents of Capitol City dared to step beyond their doorways, or to utter a sound. The procession at the annual bonfire was one thing, but this was so much different. This was unannounced, and so small compared to most of his public appearances. In a situation like this, stepping beyond the safety zone of your own porch and your own silence meant risking being shot by one of the emperor's guards. As if to confirm this, the soldiers outlining the small, and eirily silent procession looked out at all the people staring, and gave them all small nods, causing them to take steps back and then come forward again once that particular soldier had passed.

But could it really be the emperor? That must've been the thought on the minds of all who watched as the procession moved down the street, according to the one who sat in the cushy chair in the front of that carriage. It seemed time for a bit of reassurance to the crowd that indeed, their emperor had returned.

Emperor 626 stood up out of his chair and out of the covered area of his carriage where everyone could see him. Raising his one exposed arm still holding its cigar, he gave a slight wave to the people on their porches and balconies. A slight murmur went through the streets and then ended as soon as it had begun. The emperor sat back down in his chair and inhaled on his cigar.

It was dusty enough to make someone cough in this van if they weren't careful. A standard gray Imperial brand van with all it's seats and inner linings torn out. Sitting on a plywood box was a stout young girl with blond hair and nerdy glasses, the same girl who was given command of the resistance's most important task ever just a few hours ago. She listened on a cheap headset while looking at a pile of cheat, black and white TVs stacked against the side of the van. Each TV held a slightly different view of the streets of capitol City leading up to the emperor's palace, and finally of the palace itself. Cameras mounted on the balconies of those who lived in Capitol City, presumably those few who sympathized with the resistance, transmitted their signals straight to that van for the viewing pleasure of that young girl.

That girl watched the procession pass by her on her TVs and was barely able to find the words to speak into her headset.

"Uhh… good, formation people… stay casual… err… don't look suspicious."

One man next to her dropped his head into his hand as it was clear this girl had no idea what she was doing.

"They're doing fine." He interrupted. "No one's suspicious intercepted them yet and there's no commotion. It won't be until they reach the gates of the palace that we'll know whether or not this little shenanigan's working"

"But I'm just trying to…" The girl responded with her hand covering her mouthpiece.

"You're repeating yourself." The man interrupted. "Stressing out only makes an improbable victory even more improbable."

"Sorry." The girl said, lowering her head. She stopped talking and continued watching the procession on tape.

The procession had finally stopped. It had stopped at the gates of the Emperor's palace. For a minute there was nothing. A slight twinge of nervousness broke the side of the emperor's mouth as he crushed the end of his now mostly used cigar in his hand. His dwarf servant looked back and forth at him, and then at the gate, and back and forth, almost dropping the platter several times. Some of the soldiers began to look at each other. There was another minute of nothing. There was a noticeable tension in the air.

At last there was a loud clanking sound, and the gates to the emperor's palace began to slide open to let the procession through. There seemed to be a great albeit silent sigh of relief among all, including the occupants of the hidden van.

"I guess that means he hasn't come back yet." The young girl sighed out.

"Or it might mean he's expecting us." The man next to her added in.

The gate was slow and arduous. The time for one last breath of relaxation was then, before there would be no more again. But relaxation was the last thing anyone seemed to be feeling at that moment. All the slowness was causing anxiety to grow. A quick dive into the climactic final moments wouldn't have been nearly as nerve wracking, but this was a luxury that was cruelly not afforded.

The soldiers had begun acting very unlike themselves. They were twitching. Some were shuffling their feet in place. The women pulling the emperor's carriage were visibly jittering. This was taking way too long. The gate was opening, they shouldn't be worrying at the moment, but the sheer tedium swelled the anxiety in the air until it could be cut with a knife.

At last the gates were open, and the procession was allowed inside. They marched even slower than they did before up to that gigantic structure.

It was as big as the US capitol building, but many times stranger. It was pure white and made of columns and domes like the US capitol building, but was arranged into a far more modernistic design. The procession passed a garden of giant columns supporting nothing. The palace was drawing ever closer. No human had ever been this close to it before, and only at this close did its size truly hit you. The palace must've been almost a kilometer across. It was a structure of giant domes with towers jutting up from their centers, towers that must've been the width of great highrise apartment buildings, and just as tall. At the ground level, great hallways equally impressive in size to everything else joined all the domes in an octagon, with more going inward toward the central dome, the largest of them all. The columns though, were nowhere to be seen on the structure itself. Instead they encircled it on the outside, making a sort of permimeter, a fence of these giant columns that hugged the entire structure of the emperor's palace. It was a truly amazing sight. That palace was awe inspiring looked as majestic and monumental as any and all of the greatest inspirational architectural achievements of mankind.

At the same time it was saddening. To those who looked upon that palace, such a thing of beauty and craftsmanship deserved to be a monument to all that was great and just, it certainly looked like it was. Instead though, it was a monument to the voracious greed, the malice, the disdain, and the pomposity of one man who would dare fall from the sky, and then take it upon himself to enslave all the people's of the pacific islands, all the while calling himself a savior and a messiah to them.

But there was now hope yet for the people of the pacific islands. There was hope in the form of a freak quantum double of that man that fell from the sky. A freak quantum double who just happened to learn all of life's most important lessons through being shown the love of a little girl, and would now rise up to challenge his own mirror image to free the very people he himself once had the kind of mentality to enslave.

And today one side would fall forever. It would either be this wretched man who fell from the sky, or the people of the pacific islands.

The moment was coming quickly. Patrols of guards, of those blue skinned human, alien experiment hybrids dressed in flowing white and red robes and adorning extra long, old fashioned looking plasma rifles with silver and gold polish, and bright wooden stocks, with long braided ponytails and bright, blood red berets were now leaving their patrols and forming a kind of brigade around the great twenty foot high double doors to the palace.

The procession once again halted. The two groups stared each other down. The imperial soldiers in their mechanical black suits and crude looking plasma carbines, vs. the well trimmed imperial royal guards with their fancy robes and their elegant, rustic looking plasma rifles.

As ever more of these guards began to join the brigade, a small detachment of about ten or twelve of them began to march in formation toward the carriage up front of the procession. They were coming to greet the imperial troops, and to greet the emperor.

"This is it." The woman in the van whispered to herself. "Everything comes down to this. Everything we've ever hoped for and worked toward comes down to this."

These guards were fast approaching the emperor's carriage. They knew as well as any of the mysterious double of the emperor. Everyone knew that they would ask the creature in that carriage for proof of his identity, and everyone within the procession knew that the creature inside the carriage wouldn't be able to provide any.

They had come as close as they possibly could to the most heavily guarded sanctuary of Emperor 626 without any kind of skirmish, and now there was only one thing left to do.

The emperor slipped his dwarf servant something, it was pair of plain white, foam ear plugs. The dwarf quickly placed the ear plugs in his hears and nodded his head to the emperor.

The guards were almost upon the carriage now, and they were all holding out their hands.

With one swift twist, Stitch threw off his hat and robe and revealed himself holding two plasma carbines, along with two bandoleers covered in extra plasma tanks, and a leather sidepach wrapped around his waist.

At the same time, the dwarf servant threw back his platter, and threw off his black coverings, revealing himself not to be a dwarf at all, but a little girl. Lilo. Dressed in the helmet and torso piece of the armor of an imperial soldier, without the leggings, arms, or gas mask.

The guards were shocked and stunned. The rebels in imperial armor were poised for Stitch's signal for attack, which they got.

Stitch raised his lower right hand and pointed toward the emperor's palace. He screamed then loud enough for everyone within twenty city blocks to hear.

"TOOKIE BA-WABA!"

The huge squares of imperial soldiers broke and immediately began firing into the crowd of the royal guards. The guards were caught by surprise and many were blown back into the palace, into the columns, with charred torsos, heads and extremities. They scramble to seek cover behind the many thousands of columns and returned fire with their rustic plasma rifles, noticeably more powerful than the carbines, but without their compactness or high ROF.

Bodies were now flying through the air as they were hit with plasma shots, both the robed royal guards, and the black armored rebels. The columns each were taking cover behind were being slowly demolished into piles of black rock by the plasma fire.

In the middle of this, Stitch in his carriage and Lilo right by his side. Lilo knew exactly what to do, as they had discussed it in depth. She would be walking right into a battle with the empire's forces, the same situation that traumatized her to begin with. That was why the earplugs, and that was why she jumped on Stitch's back and shut her eyes as tight as she could, not wanting to see anything that was happening, not daring to see anything that was happening.

Stitch leapt headfirst off the carriage, which was pulverized by plasma fire as soon as his body was in the air. A guard firing out in the open toward wherever was stuck in the chest by the head of a flying Stitch and knocked to the ground. In the blink of an eye, Stitch shoved the muzzle of a carbine down his throat and fired, frying his insides, and then dashed toward the palace.

More guards awaited him. They stood on the stairway to the palace in plain sight and firing their rifles at him. Stitch ran at them like a quarterback, batting the shots out of the way with the palms of his hands before bounding up into the air and firing his carbines at them straight down. They all hit their mark straight in the head, and the now headless bodies of those guards fell down onto the stairs. Stitch landed on the ground with a thud, the impact was nothing on his body, but he knew the physical limitations of humans. That kind of landing must have knocked the wind right out of Lilo. Despite this, she still clung to his back hard as ever with her eyes pushed tight shut, not wanting to see anything that was happening, not daring to see anything that was happening.

Stitch glanced around him for only a split second to take in his surroundings. Everything was a'blur of motion. Bodies running back and forth between columns, bodies flying through the air with smoke pouring out of them. Bodies lying dead on the ground with smoke pouring out of them. Bodies both human and bizarre hybrid thing. Unintelligible screams from both sides and plasma shots whirred through the air. Almost deafening sounds of explosions and fire filled ones ears, but not a single truly big explosion could be seen. The closest that came to it was the brief flash as a body was hit with a burst of plasma and one's nostrils were filled with the horrid scent of ozone, tar, and burning hair, even worse for Stitch's nostrils, which were like those of a bloodhound. Less like explosions, it just seemed as if firecrackers were going off all around Stitch in the night, mixed with the sounds of screaming and the smells of burning. Though she heard little and saw nothing, how Lilo was faring through all this was anyone's guess. To Stitch though, it seemed almost surreal. There was so much fighting and death going on right around him, but none of it seemed coming his way. It was as if he was an outside observer to all this chaos. It was as if he was watching a war movie rather than actually being in a war. One thing was for sure though. It seemed now that both sides were at last even. The vastly superior firepower of the rebels touting the weapons of the empire's hardcore soldiers, versus the superhuman strength and agility of the royal guards, the death toll on both sides was seemed equal.

A shot of plasma flew by Stitch's ear, just nicking it, leaving a singing feeling behind. The shot had also flown by Lilo, nicking her in the shoulder. Though through her armor it only felt like a soft punch, Lilo tightened her grip around Stitch and shivered. The brief moments' glimpse into the fighting was up, and Stitch ran up the stairs toward those giant double doors.

But it was too late now, guards, one, two, three… seven of them in all had spotted him running up the stairway, and were poised to fire at him. Stitch couldn't let Lilo get hit, that armor could easily withstand a grazing or splashing of plasma, but not the dead accurate shots that those half human things could dish out. Stitch turned around and ran up the stairs backwards, shooting down all of those guards and blocking their own shits with the palms of his hands. If one of those blobs hit his bandoleer, and his ammo tanks ruptured, it would be all over for Lilo. Hitting those guards dead in the chest sent them flying back down the stairs, but with their whole chests nothing but a huge black bur, they got right back up and searched for their rifles. Only a head shot cold do them in, and that's where Stitch aimed next.

It seemed too little, too late. More and more guards were pouring toward him, and Stitch had his back to the double door entrance to the palace. Stitch shot them all down as fast as they could come at him, but parrying so many plasma shots was taking its toll. Stitch's lower hands were blackened and he could feel them burning, the outer layers of skin beginning to peel off. If he took much more of this, the skin itself would burn away exposing the muscle beneath.

A familiar sound was heard above. A savior at last came in the form of a streaking blue wedge of metal flying across the sky. Skyboat Blue had risen from beneath its tarp on that flatbed truck and was now firing at the royal guards from the air. It was working! The guards attention was being drawn away from Stitch, and moreover, away from the rebels. They aimed their rifles to the sky and opened fire on Skyboat Blue, with their attention drawn away from the rebels, they were now being picked off at an alarming rate. It seemed the tide of this battle was finally turning in Stitch's favor, but how long until reinforcements showed up couldn't be known, and things would be different once that happened.

In the meantime, Stitch was now able to focus his attention on those twenty foot double doors. Pure white, they were made of solid ballistics ceramic. It was tough material, perhaps too tough in a time clench like this one. But the hinges, the hinges were steel. Steel was soft enough. It was soft enough for Stitch to tear those door right off their frames.

Stitch set Lilo down in front of him, shielding her from the battle behind them. She curled up into a ball in front of him. Stitch didn't know if she did that on purpose or on instinct, but it didn't really matter now. If any fire went his way, it would hit his back, though it would be painful, he would make it through them and Lilo would only get splashes, easily stopped by her armor.

Stitch extended his claws and drove his hands straight into the ceramic doors. They chipped and cracked with the force of his fists, as did his own fingernails. But his hands were now jammed inside the door, which was what he wanted. Stitch pulled, and the steel hinges of the door gave way as if they were made of gummy. Stitch turned around holding that door above his head, and threw it into the fight. He would crush quite a few of those guards, and even a few rebels, but that's the way battles went. The only thing concerning Stitch was getting inside the Palace. Which he did.

Stitch picked up Lilo in his lower arms, still curled up into a ball, and dashed inside the palace.

The sounds, and for the most part, the smells of the battle were now behind him. The palace was strangely deserted, and none of the guards seemed to be following him inside. Why weren't they following him inside? The battle was being left outside and Stitch was no longer a part of it. Whatever the reason they seemed to be letting him go, this afforded Stitch a good look at where he was.

The inside of the palace looked more like the inside of a wedding cake. Everything was white marble, or at least a quality ceramic imitation. The floors were timed with tan and green marble tiles, or again a ceramic imitation. In front of him was a giant, six tiered white fountain, and in front of that, a split staircase converging at the floor above. The hallway went on both left and right. The place was untouched except for the doorway, and the smoke pouring in from outside.

But there were footsteps, loud ones. Stitch ears perked up. They were coming from the hallways to the left and right. It sounded like hundreds of them. They were running. They seemed pissed, if footsteps can seem pissed that is, that's what they sounded like. Stitch propped up Lilo onto his back and she clung to it like a leech. He ran over to the edge of the left side of the staircase and hid behind it, waiting for whatever it was that was coming at him from both sides. He didn't have to wait long.

Plasma streamed into the room from both sides, apparently with no aim, but just with the hopes of hitting something important. By the time the smoke cleared, the floor was a landscape of jagged rocks and the fountain was gone, only a huge spout of water shot up from a hole in the floor, covering the rubble of the floor quickly in several inches of water. It was more of those red and white robed guards with their braided pony tails and their antique looking guns. They walked carefully into the ruined hallway, looking every which way. They held their rifles tightly at their hips, sometimes raising them to their shoulders to aim at a crackling sound when a piece of rubble fell down and skidded across the floor.

Stitch still hid behind that left staircase looking out at the guards entering the room. Lilo still clung to his back not daring to open her eyes or unplug her ears. There had to be twenty, no thirty, no, thirty four of them total. That's why no one was following him inside. Not all the guards had come out to join the battle, many were still inside securing the palace hallways. They were looking for him. They would eventually find him. It would be best if it were on Stitch's terms. Stitch gulped and grabbed the side of the staircase, propelling himself up top. The guards immediately took notice and began firing at him.

Stitch ran backwards up the staircase firing back and doing as best he could to block those shots with his lower hands. But there were too many of them. One of them hit him square in the chest. It burned and it knocked the wind right out of Stitch. He cringed and slumped forward with the pain, but he couldn't let it get to him. With no breath he continued firing, running backward and blocking oncoming plasma with his lower hands. Those hands were now starting to blister. Stitch made a quick decision and dropped his carbines, grabbing them with his lower hands. He now used his unscathed upper hands to parry the oncoming shots. But there were only a few shots to parry. The guards quickly seemed to be realizing that firing at Stitch from a Distance was doing no good. They ran up the stairs after him hoping that at least enough of them would live to get in a few shots at him point blank.

This was what Stitch wanted. Now halfway up the staircase, with thirty plus guards barreling up after him, still running up the staircase himself he unlatched an ammo tank from his bandoleer in one hand, and reached into his leather side pack with the other and pulled out a small aluminum C02 cartridge. He jammed the cartridge into the nozzle of the tank and dropped it down stairs.

The guards continued running up the stairs not noticing the ammo tank bouncing down after them, now starting to low. In less than a second it was glowing brighter than a halogen light bulb, before finally exploding into massive green fireball, throwing all the guards clear across the hall the impact and taking out the left section of the stairs.

Stitch reached the top of the stairs and made a quick decision. More footsteps were coming at him from both sides again, this time from the second floor hallways, but not from straight ahead, that's where he was going. Diving headfirst straight though a solid wood double door, Stitch found himself running straight through the top balcony of the hallway leading to the giant center dome of the palace.

Outside the palace the battle kept raging on. The garden of columns was now all but gone and there were few things to take cover behind except sharp ceramic boulders. The battle slowed down noticeably now that the sound of distant roaring engines was heard. Something was approaching fast.

Those who were still alive, rebel and guard alike looked up to see Skyboats. A wing of them, seven in all, flying in a v formation, and headed a single skyboat carrier with a large metal tank strapped to the bottom of its frame. A trap door swung open on the bottom of the tank and black soldiers began falling out of the doorway like raining ants. Their jetpacks immediately kicked on as soon as they were in the air and they were now flying above the battle taking aim at whatever was on the ground wearing black armor. The reinforcements had arrived.

There was nowhere left to take cover. Cover was meaningless to an airborne soldier. The rebels scrambled every which way trying to avoid the fire from the airborne soldiers, desperately trying to fie back, but it impossible to get a good aim at someone who was flying through the air. From the air, the rebel scramble resembled a swarm of mice running out of all their hiding places to flee from a great intruder. They were easily bulls-eyed and reduced to hollow black shells.

Only Skyboat Blue could attack the flying soldiers, but the other seven skyboats were too much for it. It could only try to outmaneuver them and fire back, hoping to take them all out before its shields were totally drained. Without Stitch, without Skyboat Blue, the rebels on the ground were now utterly alone.

Stitch ran down the roof of the hallway toward the giant center dome with so many guards hot on his tail. He never even looked around this time. He didn't know how many there were. Only a few were firing at him though, and they all seemed to be missing. It was confusing Stitch. According to Jumba's disk, these things were supposed to be able to shoot a ten centimeter moving target from over a hundred meters away. It was as if they were missing on purpose.

Stitch had no time for ponderings right now though. He reached for another ammo tank, and another CO2 cartridge. Quickly jamming the cartridge into the nozzle of the tank he threw it behind him. In seconds Stitch was caught in the wake of an explosion that threw him head over heels and the last distance across the roof of the hallway, sandwiching Lilo between him and another wooden door, cracking the door.

Stitch dropped Lilo to the ground and looked at her frantically. She had scrapes and bruises, she was shivering, but she looked all right. That armor was really something. Unprotected, that impact would've crushed every bone in her body, but now it seemed she was just fine.

Not wasting any more time, Stitch cradled Lilo, holding her tight against him in his upper arms while shooting out the doors with the gun in his lower arms.

Another three section hallway! From the left and the right once again, more footsteps. Once again, it was forward Stitch went, leaving another improvised bomb behind him, hoping that it would slow them down.

Stitch ran fast enough this time to outrun the shockwave of the blast. But something was strange. At every opportunity to go more than one way, he had been cut of from every direction but one. It was as if he was being led somewhere. But there wasn't time to think about that now. More intersections and more instances of only one way to go, and more bombs left at those intersections to slow down Stitch's pursuers.

The cockpit of the third skyboat caved in on itself with a direct hit from the pure white plasma of Skyboat Blue. The skyboat tumbled over itself and two the ground, skidding hundreds of feet and digging up a wave of earth in front of it before screeching to a halt and burning up. Three down, but the other four skyboats continued their pursuit. There wasn't much left on the shields of Skyboat Blue though. A few more direct hits from the enemy skyboat's cannons and those shields went down. A few more hits and Skyboat Blue went down as well. Crashing cockpit first into the side of a palace dome, demolishing both the wall of the dome, and Skyboat Blue.

"We lost Skyboat Blue!" screamed the little blond girl in the van so far away from the action. Tears streaming down her face, she threw her headset to the ground and crushed it.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Yelled the man next to her.

The blond girl looked up at her TVs and watched with her face bright red and her eyes glossed over as seemingly the last of the rebel forces were slaughtered right before her eyes.

"It's all over!" She screamed. "We've lost! There's no hope left for us!"

"It's not over yet!" The man yelled back and he grabbed her shoulder and spun her to face him. "We're only a diversion remember! This is Stitch's mission not ours! It doesn't matter if the attack fails only so long Stitch succeeds! Got it?"

The girl in the van nodded her head lightly and then buried her face in her hands, continuing to sob.

Stitch was now cornered. There were three hallways of pure white tile and ceramic to choose from, and all three had those footsteps coming toward him. His back was against the wall. Lilo clung to his side and his arm was around her shoulder, holding his gun and pressing its side against her. The wall he was pressed against though wasn't a wall at all, but a door. It was another of those twenty-foot double doors like the one found on the entrance. But this time the hinges were not steel, but what looked like glass. But only one glasslike substance was strong enough to act as hinges for a door like this, and that was diamond. Synthetic diamond. Not even Stitch could break those hinges in time. It would take him almost ten minutes off pulling and straining every muscle and bone in his body to accomplish such a feat.

For a moments notice, Stitch paid attention to Lilo. Her breathing was shallow and stuttered. And she was covered in dust and scratches.

An idiotic idea came to Stitch, but he tried it anyway, seeing as how there was nothing else to do. The handle to that door was in reach by his arms. So he grabbed it and turned the handle. It was amazing that the door was actually unlocked.

It was confirmed now. This whole time Stitch was being led. He was being led right to the room behind him. Stitch hesitated, knowing that's exactly where they wanted him to go. Mystery door? Guards? Mystery door? Guards? Mystery door? Mystery Door.

Stitch pushed the door open, grabbed Lilo, ran inside and shut it behind him, locking it from his side as quickly as he could.

There was no banging on the door, no sounds of a lock being picked, no sounds of plasma fire. It was as if the forces outside had given up on Stitch as soon as he had entered this door, but for what reason? Why was he led here?

Stitch set Lilo on the cold floor and looked around.

The room was gigantic. It was dark. It was rectangular. It was about forty meters across and fifteen meters wide. The sides of the room were lined with more columns, and there were no windows, just solid walls. The walls, the floor, and the columns were different here though. They were not white. They were green, dark green marble. Or rather, they were dark green imitation ceramic marble.

Stitch leaned over Lilo and shook her a bit. Lilo only groaned and shivered. Stitch carefully removed Lilo's earplugs and she uncurled, clearly dizzy and coughing.

Stitch carefully unstrapped Lilo's armor and let it fall to the floor with a clank and a rattle. Lilo snorted hard. Beneath that armor, Lilo's plain gray t-shirt and shorts were dripping with sweat. Lilo was having a bit of a difficult time breathing. Stitch could only imagine how badly Lilo must be itching right now. But however badly she was, she showed no sign of it.

"Is okeytaka Lilo." Stitch said. "We're safe now."

Stitch's voice echoed and then echoed again through this new hallway. They both looked up and looked around. Lilo stood up, almost loosing her balance on the way until Stitch's arm steadied her.

"Where are we?" Lilo managed to hack out of her parched and chapped throat.

"Naga nota." Stitch whispered back.

Lilo and Stitch took a few steps forward. It was then that something in the middle of the room caught their attention. It was less something they saw than something they were standing on. It was something soft and plush, and warm.

They both looked down to see that they were now standing on a bright red rug. It was plain bright red with gold trimmings. Their eyes followed the rug straight to the end of the hallway where a large staircase led to yet a third massive double door. Only this time, that door was jet black, and was engraved with the sword in anvil logo of the Pacific Empire.

Something stood out even more than the door though. It was something standing on the stairs. It looked like another of those black armored imperial soldiers.

Lilo quickly hid behind Stitch, barely peeking out to look at the motionless figure. There was only one of them. But something was different about this one. That was the armor the imperial soldiers wore, but it was different somehow.

It was larger. It was so much larger. It must've been fifteen feet tall. Stitch's eyes counted sixteen feet four and a half inches. He was very familiar with that height, and he instantly knew exactly what that thing was.

The suit began to slowly descend the staircase. Stepping out of the shadows, more detail was revealed. This suit held two guns, both far bigger than anything the imperial troops would ever use. In one hand this suit held a sleek, rounded minigun, big enough that it looked like it was taken right off a chopper. In the other hand, resting it on its shoulder, was something resembling a bazooka, but many times bigger. Big enough that even this massive suit had to hold it on its shoulder.

"What is it?" Lilo whispered.

"Gantu." Stitch answered.

"Gantu?" Lilo shouted out.

The figure in front of them stopped. It placed its huge minigun inside an equally huge holster strapped to its leg. With its free hand, it unhooked its helmet and let it drop to the floor. The gas mask, with no more support, also fell.

It really was Gantu.


	20. Gantu's Liberation

Gantu stood almost motionless, staring down at Stitch and Lilo hiding behind him. From the way he gripped the handle you could tell he was ready to use that cannon held over his shoulder at a moments notice. The same was true for that minigun in his holster, as his fingers twitched nervously just inches away from the grip of the gun. But his general attitude betrayed his hands. You could tell also that he was sad. From his limpness and from his slumped forward body, he had a certain air of regret about him. It seemed he was a great actor though, as he had never let this show before now.

Gantu took just a few more steps forward, slowly and methodically. Stepping out of the last bit of shadow, Gantu finally revealed his face to Lilo and Stitch, and what they saw was perhaps most shocking thing to happen that day. Gantu was crying silently, but at the same time he was smiling. One of those things you do when you're both happy and sad at the same time.

Shocking, yes it was, but moreover it was confusing. Gantu was itching to pull the triggers on his guns and blast both of them into nothing, but at the same time, he looked as if he cared about them, or if not, at least he looked as if he didn't want to do what he was about to do.

Any adult could understand what Gantu looked as if he was feeling at that moment, Stitch certainly understood it. But Lilo, she couldn't yet grasp such feelings, it merely confused and frightened her, and she hid further behind Stitch.

"You are here." Stitch spoke out loud. "That means emperor is also."

"That's correct." Gantu answered with a nod. His voice was soft and incredibly smooth, much unlike what he usually sounded like in either his anger or his jubilance. His whole aura seemed to betray what Lilo and Stitch both knew to be his demeanor. Gantu was absolutely calm, and collected. "Emperor 626 is waiting for you just beyond this hall. But if you want to see him, you'll first have to get through me."

After finishing his statement, Gantu quickly flashed Stitch a weak smile, which turned into a painful grimace soon afterward. Stitch stared at Gantu with narrowed eyes and lips slightly parted, the kind of face you get when you're trying to understand something that just barely frightens you.

Two small hands grasped tightly at Stitch's shoulders. Stitch briefly turned his head to see Lilo still hovering behind him. It would be safer now for Lilo to leave his side than to stick by. Stitch knew, somehow, that Gantu would not go after her. It was something about his expression that just spoke to Stitch, telling him that she was not a target. Stitch jerked his head over toward one of the columns toward the entrance to this hall. Lilo nodded and took off running toward the column.

Gantu followed Lilo with his eyes. He watched her run almost fifty feet completely exposed before hiding behind one of those columns, and then barely peeking her head out to see what was happening. Gantu quickly turned his head back to Stitch.

What was at the root of Gantu's behavior? Stitch couldn't just knock him out of the way before knowing, or else that curiosity would be gnawing at him forever.

"Do you fear me?" Stitch asked softly.

Gantu's face quickly returned to something Stitch was quite used to. It was that same narcissistic smile he would always put on whenever he had Stitch trapped in a polymer tube.

"Fear you?" Gantu answered. "You're nothing Stitch, why should I be afraid of you?"

"Do you fear emperor then?"

Gantu's smile turned into a frown, and then a quite growl before he responded. "Anyone with any sense in their brain is afraid of Emperor 626."

"Than you should fear me." Stitch retorted. "Anything emperor can do, Stitch can do."

"On the contrary!" Gantu spoke up, loudly this time, and slowly walking forward. "You can do nothing the emperor can do."

Gantu was now walking around Stitch in circles, as if a pathetic attempt at taunting him. For a moment, Stitch wondered if Gantu was really trying to taunt him, or just putting on a show.

"Emperor 626 is a battle hardened militarist with a will and a heart of iron." Gantu continued. "What are you though Stitch? You are a runaway space puppy longing for love in the arms of a little girl."

What did Gantu just say? _A runaway space puppy longing for love in the arms of a little girl?_ It could've been nothing, but it could also have been that Gantu knew all about Stitch, where he came from and how his life unfolded. If that was so, how could this world's Gantu have possibly known these things?

There would be no time for answers. Gantu walked right up to Stitch and knelt down in front of him. Gantu brought his head so close to Stitch's body that his breath blew his fur back like a fan. Stitch never backed up or even flinched at this display.

"Do you want to know the real reason I'm not afraid of you?" Gantu whispered at Stitch.

Stitch nodded his head.

"I don't fear you because I no longer fear death. I no longer fear anything anymore, except for the emperor."

Stitch had that look on his face again. Narrowed eyes and slightly parted lips as if trying to understand what was barely frightening him. Gantu smiled malevolently at Stitch, understanding that look perfectly.

"As I said before, I am nothing more than the emperor's property. Property does not feel or think. Property is not alive it is an inanimate thing. And inanimate things do not have wills of their own, they simply do what they're told without question, resistance, or hesitation.  
"I am not afraid of you Stitch, because anything you can do to me is nothing compared to what will happen to me if I ever showed the emperor that I was something more than an inanimate thing.  
If you were to liberate me Stitch, I would be much obliged."

That's what was with his bizarre behavior. Gantu was going to die. He knew he was going to die, and he seemed bizarrely relieved about this, as if certainty of coming death was lifting a great weight from his shoulders.

Stitch tried thinking more about what Gantu had said, but there was nothing more to think about. It almost made Stitch feel guilty that he had reached his conclusion so quickly. He would _liberate_ Gantu, as had been requested of him, and then he would move on. There would be nothing more to it than that. There could be nothing more to it than that, as much as conscience would demand otherwise, and it did, that answer was as quick to come as two plus two equals four.

"Ih." Stitch said with a nod.

Gantu smiled briefly at Stitch, and nodded back. Gantu stood back up and took three huge steps backwards. He took a deep breath with his eyes closed. He opened them again with resolve, and took the minigun out of its holster. He pointed it directly at Stitch. A small red dot appeared on Stitch's chest, darting a few inches back and fourth at Gantu's involuntary hand twitches. Gantu at last pulled the trigger and fired.

Plasma screamed out of the barrels of the minigun, almost thirty shots per second, and ripped through the ceramic tile floor as if it were made of tissue paper. As soon as he had released the trigger he had found that Stitch had done a bounding backflip and was almost twenty feet in the air. Gantu fired his minigun at Stitch flying through the air. The shots, hundreds of them, whizzed passed Stitch sometimes missing by as little as an inch, but at the height of his leap, one of the shots had hit him square in the right shoulder. It did little more than single his fur, but it knocked him back so he no longer had control over his jump.

Stitch landed on the floor in an akward belly flop. He heard something charging up as if a pwer cell were being quickly drained. Stitch raised his head to see a bright white light forming on Gantu's shoulder mounted cannon, and another red dot right between his eyes. That minigun might do nothing but knock Stitch off balance, but that canon might actually be able to do some damage.

Gantu fired, and his shoulder swung back from the force. Stitch rolled to the side as fast as possible. The beach ball sized blob of bright blue plasma just missed him, crashing into the ground only a few feet away. The impact sounded more like a sonic boom than an actual explosion. Stitch was thrown by the wake into the air, with more pellets of plasma careening after him from Gantu's minigun.

Stitch quickly righted himself and landed on a column feet first. The fire from that minigun was quickly heading his way, it Gantu could knock him on the ground, he could shoot him with that shoulder mounted cannon, and that would hurt quite a bit. Stitch ran as fast as he could on all fours. He ran to the edge of the column and then jumped toward the next one. Gantu was spinning on one foot turning his cannon after Stitch, sometimes coming within inches of hitting him. The columns were being blasted to shreds.

Gantu was going to hit Stitch if he kept up like this. A quick decision and Stitch turned ninety degreed and was now running straight up. The fire from the Gantu's minigun followed him the whole way, ripping into the ceramic of the walls and the ceiling and sending dust and pieces flying outward.

Stitch ran across the ceiling right above Gantu. Gantu followed him with his fire and dust from the ceiling fell down right into Gantu's eyes.

Gantu screamed and looked down, shutting his eyes tight, he kept firing up though, firing into the ceiling, and now whole pieces were starting to fall off, revealing the night sky beyond.

Now was Stitch's chance. At once he dropped from the ceiling. Righting himself he landed feet first on a section of the roof that had fallen off. Gantu still fired blindly into the roof every which way, unaware that Stitch was now on the floor, until the minigun stopped suddenly and began pouring our a choking black smoke. Gantu dropped the gun, realizing he had just overheated it and it was now useless. Gantu was wiping his eyes furiously now with his free hand, and when he finally opened them he saw Stitch standing in front of him pointing his carbines straight for his chest.

But Stitch hesitated and looked up, as did Gantu, when both heard what seemed the sound of wood beginning to crack under pressure from above. The roof, now riddles with holes and missing pieces, suddenly began to fall. The entire middle section of the roof had collapsed and was now falling down on top of Gantu and Stitch.

Stitch curled up into a ball and Gantu got on his knees and buried his head under his arms. The roof hitting the floor sounded like the crashing of two semis in slow motion. But slowly, both Gantu and Stitch dug their way out from the rubble, but both missing their weapons.

Gantu frantically dug around in the pieces of the collapsed roof looking for his cannon, his only weapon that still worked. Stitch dg around for his carbines. Gantu only had his sight to go by though, and the room was too filled with smoke and dust to see. Stitch's nose led him right to his guns. Stitch thrust his hands through a section of roof, and pulled his carbines through the resulting pile.

A whistle led Gantu to stand up and look forward. Stitch once again had him in his sights, with his carbines locked on, and opened fire. Stitch shot at Gantu straight in the chest, over and over again. Slowly walking forward as he did, as Gantu was being pushed back by the blasts.

For over a minute Stitch shot at Gantu with his carbines, pinning him against one of the few remaining columns, until both of Stitch's guns finally ran out of ammunition. Slapping the carbines against his hips, Stitch released the lever and the ammo tanks fell out of the back of his carbines. With his lower hands, he reached down to his bandoleers only to find that he had no more ammo. He had wasted all of those tanks on the bombs he made just getting to this place.

Stitch dropped his carbines, as there was no more use for them. But at least Gantu had been done away with.

But as the smoke cleared, he looked up to see Gantu's charred remains leaning against that pillar, but instead he saw Gantu strangely unharmed. His armor was totally blackened, smoking and warped though. It was his armor! It hadn't occurred to Stitch that Gantu's armored suit, being so much larger than that of an imperial soldier's, would also be much heavier and able to take so much more punishment. If only Stitch had taken the head shot! And he had no more weapons.

Gantu, heaving and snarling, looked over his shoulder do find his cannon, covered in dust. He grabbed it and began charging another shot. In a second it was done, and he fired right at Stitch. Stitch ran straight forward, hoping not to get a direct impact. He was still caught in the wake of the blast, and was thrown clear across the room.

Stitch landed on the ground in front of the staircase at the end of the room. As soon as he opened his eyes he saw Gantu readying another shot from that cannon, and that huge blue ball heading right toward him. Stitch jumped forward and narrowly missed being hit directly, but he was again thrown clear across the room, and straight into the massive double doors that made the entrance to this hall.

Stitch landed on the floor on his head. He looked at Gantu and suddenly got an idea. Stitch stood in place staring Gantu down, so as he would try to lead fire. Gantu charged another blast and fired right at Stitch, who took off running as soon as the shot was out of the barrel. He ran fast enough this time. He was able to leap and then surf the wake of the explosion, ramming Gantu straight in the chest and knocking him over.

Stitch landed on the ground disoriented but otherwise okay. He got up and shook his head. When everything was clear, Stitch saw Gantu sitting upright aiming that shoulder cannon at him point blank. Gantu had held tightly to the thing even upon being knocked over.

Stitch was stunned. He could only watch as Gantu charged up that thing, and then the sound died down. The cannon had run out of ammo. Gantu grumbled and unzipped the bottom section of the holster that once held his minigun. He took out an ammo tank, far larger than the ones that powered Stitch's carbines.

Stitch saw the nozzle end of the tank. Something flashed in his mind. Bomb! In a flash, Stitch reached into his leather side pack and pulled out a CO2 cartridge, and threw it at the ammo tank. It was a perfect shot, the cartridge plugged the tank and was now emptying its ice cold gas straight into the plasma chamber.

Just as Gantu was about to release his spent ammo tank from his cannon, he felt the one in his hand growing hot. He paused and looked at it. It was starting to glow, brighter and brighter.

Stitch took off running. He ran to the corner of the room where Lilo was hiding. She was now curled up in the fetal position in the corner of the room, amazingly one of the few places undamaged. Stitch threw himself on top of Lilo to shield her from the explosion.

Gantu looked in awe as the ammo tank became hotter, and glowed brighter. It was now burning his hand, but held it tight anyway. It glowed so bright that Gantu now found the light blinding. He released a single tear and a smile, and then.

The room was engulfed in a blast that deafened the ears of both Lilo and Stitch. Hot wind blew against Stitch's back, singing his hair. Debree flew at him, and hit him with the force of bullets, some hard enough to actually leave a mark later on. And then everything was sucked backwards. The air was sucked right out of Lilo's lungs, though Stitch's were strong enough to hold it in.

At last the blast cleared up. Lilo sprawled herself out in Stitch's arms gasping for air but unable to fit any into her collapsed lungs. Stitch couldn't do anything more than hold her close, and he didn't need to. A quick feel and smell showed Stitch that Lilo had no broken bones or torn ligaments, only a few scrapes and bruises from the blast to add to the ones she already had. In two or three minutes, her lungs would puff up and she would be able to breath again.

Stitch sat on the ground then and just let Lilo lean against him. She was amazingly calm at this time though. Far more than Stitch had expected. Stitch let his mind wander with Lilo laying against him. Soldiers stuck in war for so long will actually get used to being surrounded by death and destruction. Though it will always bother them, after some time it will no longer scare them. The same thing might have been happening to Lilo. That would certainly explain why she was being so calm right now. Hell of a thing to happen to a nine year old girl though. Seeing people shot dead and blown up and not being scared by it. Though certainly it was still disturbing to her, and that was a good thing. If it ever stopped being disturbing than that would mean Lilo was no longer human. Certainly that had happened to some soldiers. They had gotten so used to war that not only did it no longer scare them, but it didn't even bother them, and they could walk straight through a battlefield whistling to themselves as happy as a clam.

Stitch was the opposite though. He was born that way, not at all bothered by carnage and desolation, and then he was taught to be disturbed by such things. He was the exact opposite of almost every other sentient being out there. At last Stitch not only understood, but even empathized with the emperor. Stitch knew the emperor was his old self, but that didn't mean he understood him. That was because Stitch had forgotten his old self. But fighting so ruthlessly and mercilessly against Gantu had suddenly made him remember what he used to be, and now he could truly understand how the emperor thought. It was actually quite practical. 626 was driven by one thing, the desire to destroy. Through Gantu's influence, 626 had changed into Emperor 626, driven by only one thing, the desire for power. But that was the only thing he actually did feel. Everything else within the emperor's mind was nothing more than logic and rationality. Twisted logic it may be, but within its own context it made perfect sense, and didn't at all seem evil. It was survival of the fittest, Emperor 626 was superior to all other life forms on Earth, so he would exert his superiority to ensure not only his survival, but his legacy. After all, as a superior being, such things rightfully belonged to him. Even the lives of other people rightfully belonged to him.

Stitch looked down at Lilo, now with her eyes closed and breathing comfortably pressed against Stitch. It seemed silly now that he should love this girl as if she were a mother, a sister, and a daughter all rolled into one, yet he did. She was inferior to him. He should just kill her right then and there and find someone his biological equal to love, as only his biological equal would be deserving of such love. But he didn't. Instead he held her and comforted her. Why? Because he owed her that much. She taught him what it was like to truly live, and love was his way of repaying his debt to her.

For some reason Stitch thought about what Sam had told him some time ago. After she had experienced her first true battle, part of her would be inside that battle forever. But she could still learn to be happy again, if for much different reasons than she once was.

That was it! That was what kept Stitch from becoming Emperor 626! It was being happy. Ever since he had adopted his human family, not once had he completely given himself over to his malicious side. He had accomplished this because he was so content just living with his adopted family that he never really felt the need for anything else, not even destruction or power.

"Stitch?"

Stitch's train of though was suddenly interrupted. He looked up to see that Lilo was now sitting up in front of him.

"Emperor is here." Stitch said to Lilo. "He waits for us."

Lilo looked at Stitch with a kind of face he'd never seen before. A kind of flame burned in her eyes. A resolve he'd never imagined she was capable of. She didn't seem afraid anymore. She didn't like she would be afraid of anything anymore.

"Then we'll take him on." Lilo said. "Let's get this over with."

Stitch nodded his head.

Lilo stood up and pulled Stitch to his feet, which was odd, since it was usually Stitch who did that to her. They walked out into the crumbled mess that was once Gantu's hall, and began walking toward that huge black door side by side.

* * *

The gardens of columns in front of the palace had been all but leveled. Smoke poured out from many unrecognizable objects, but very few shots were ever heard. The imperial soldiers, alongside the royal guards of the palace walked about very calmly surveying the scene. 

It appeared that the troops had won. Backed up against the blackened walls of one of the palace domes were the remaining survivors of the resistance assault. There were only a dozen or so of them left of what was once over two thousand.

They were all on their knees with their hands behind their heads. Their helmets and masks had been pulled off revealing them all to be human beneath. Over a hundred imperial soldiers surrounded them with plasma carbines poised right at them.

The assault had been defeated, or so it seemed.

Something happened then than no could explain or even comprehend. A loud piercing shot of static was heard through the air. This got the attention of everyone, rebel and troop alike. With that, the sound was gone, at least from the ears of the rebels.

All at once, the imperial soldiers and the royal guards dropped their weapons and fell to their knees. They clutched at their ears and screamed in agony. They writhed and convulsed and foamed at their mouths.

What was happening was anyone's guess, until one saw an imperial guard, his head unobscured by any helmet. Deep pink blood was flowing freely from their ears and they cried out in anguish as they dropped to the ground and began seizing. It time, they stopped moving all together.

* * *

Lilo and Stitch walked forward toward the door. But Lilo stopped when she noticed Stitch was no longer beside her. 

Lilo turned around and saw Stitch standing in the center of the crater in the floor where that blast had gone off. Directly in the center of that crater was the black, smoldering skeletal remains of a sixteen foot tall humanoid thing.

Lilo walked over to Stitch just in time to hear him mutter something under his breath.

"You have been liberated."


	21. Showdown with Emperor 626

**Review Responses**

**To Stitchfan 82:** A) I thought I already made it clear that Nani was driven totally over the edge and at this point was beyond reasoning with. I must not have made that clear enough. B) I'll correct that mistake when I go through and search for typos. C) I already have everything planned to a T here, so sorry.

**To MariahoftheWind:** I've read some of your stuff and I like it, so go ahead! Just put in your story what exactly it is, give my name credit, and be sure to say it's not cannot with the story itself. After reading it I'll decide whether or not to let you remove the "non-canon" statement.

**Notes**

I've been looking forward to writing this chapter for a long time. This is the chapter you're all going to be talking about, I guarantee you. And this is the chapter where I can finally let shine all the lessons I've ever learned from his greatness, Quentin Tarantino.

Note, that In-Story, a song plays at one point. It was not the original song I was planning on. The original song I had in mind for this scene was a work by Queen titled 'Seaside Rendezvous'. But having that song play requires my posting the lyrics and that's not allowed here.

There's also another scene in a previous chapter that was supposed to have song lyrics, but those were omitted as well for the same reason. I will be submitting 'Empire of the Pacific' along with all my other works as well to another fanfiction archive named 'Freedom of Speech Fanfiction' as soon as they get the Lilo and Stitch section up. I suggest you check them out as per the email I sent most of you. Find it on your favorite search engine because I can't post URLs here.

Anywho, if you have an MP3 of Queen's 'Seaside Rendezsvous', play it when it says that the music has begun. Believe me, it adds so much to the scene. If not, just play the song it mentions. If you have neither of those songs, well, it's pretty damn good anyway.

BTW, the 'Freedom of Speech Fanfiction' version of 'Gems of Tomorrow' will also have lyrics posted at some point. Watch out for the Beatles' 'Happiness is a Warm Gun'.

* * *

Stitch looked up from the smoking skeletal remains that were once Gantu. There was nothing. He looked behind his shoulder and there was Lilo. She stared down at that blackened skeleton with a kind of morbid curiosity that betrayed everything one would imagine a child's reaction to such a sight would be. To Stitch though, this wasn't at all surprising. Lilo was no longer shocked or even surprised by this sort of thing. She just looked down and accepted it for what it was.

She accepted that, and she seemed to accept now what the two of them were going to have to do. It seemed so because she gave no word of how she felt or what she thought of the situation. There was no need for such things right now. She looked right into Stitch's eyes, and her expression already said everything that needed to be said.

Both Lilo and Stitch looked up at the staircase at the far end of the room. They trailed each step with their eyes, or at least what was left of them. The entire right side of the staircase was a huge gaping hole. Only the top two steps of the right side of the staircase were left from when Gantu had blasted it with his cannon.

Lilo and Stitch turned back toward each other. All it took was a nod from Lilo and they were both on their feet walking side by side toward that staircase, toward the massive black doors on top, and toward Emperor 626 waiting patiently for them behind it.

It was quite. It was so incredibly quiet that the crushing of pebbles beneath their footsteps seemed to echo throughout the hall. Their breathing sounded like a distant wind. It was so quiet. It made both of them nervous as they at last began to walk up those stairs. It wasn't supposed to be this quiet, not at a moment like this. The calm before the storm was always more nerve wracking than the storm itself. Surrounded by gales and thunder you acted on instinct alone, you didn't have time for anxiety. But in the dark, in the quiet, when you know what's coming up, anxiety has a way of overtaking you before you even know it.

It was certainly the case for Lilo now as she now stood inches away from those giant black doors. She stared off into nothing and wondered what might happen if they were to fail. She wondered, though she knew she didn't have to. She knew exactly what was going to happen. The Pacific Islands' little rebellion had already been smashed. Though she didn't see it herself, she knew it was true. They had gathered all their best fighters and most expensive equipment right here today to execute an attack that had no possible hope of success. The men who did this were walking right into a massacre and they knew it. The true purpose of the attack was nothing more than to serve as a diversion for her and Lilo to bust into the palace, which they did, and get back Jumba's time board, which they have yet to do. And if they should fail now, there will be no more rebellion after this day. It wouldn't take the Emperor a month to recover from his losses. A month after that the Philippines would fall. Six months later, Taiwan. About a year after that, Japan. At that point, with the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan all under the control of the Pacific Empire, the Emperor would control the centers of the world's industrial and electronic manufacturing. His rate of expansion would then increase ten fold, and not long after that, the Empire of the Pacific would become the Empire of the World.

Stitch was faring no better than Lilo. He too stared off into space. His eyes were squinted into slivers despite the darkness, and his ears were pressed flat against his sides. Stitch twiddled his thumbs without realizing he was doing it. What would it be like? What would it be like to face what was essentially his former self. Stitch looked back on what he was before he met Lilo. He was like a vicious animal thing. He remembered when he was inside his first polymer tube. That was when he was before the Grand Council of the Federation. The Grand CouncilWoman had tried to reason with him. She tried to be his friend. All the while the only thing he thought was how fun it would be to slash open her arteries and have her blood spray all over his face. But inside that tube he was unable to do that, so the next best thing would be some horrific insult having to do with her mother and necrophilia. On earth, he encountered a six year old girl. At the first sign of trouble, he used her as a shield to taunt his would be captor. The Emperor was that creature, unchanged by the love of that six year old girl. Though power had changed him somewhat, he now indulged himself in the likes of high society manners and luxuries, he was no less savage, or sadistic. Irony would be too feeble a word to describe it. Waging a life or death struggle to destroy the very thing you once were.

No amount of philosophical bullshit was going to change things now though. Both Lilo and Stitch knew this. Both of them slowly came back to reality. Where were they again? Those massive black doors! Emperor 626 was waiting for them just behind it. Surely now he was getting impatient. There was no sense in making him wait even longer. Stitch pushed the doors open and walked inside.

As they walked inside, Stitch let go of the doors and they closed shut behind them with a quiet boom, that is if you could imagine what a quiet boom would sound like. This was not at all what they were expecting. It was just as quiet here as it was out there, and it was just as dark as well. It was certainly warmer here than outside. A comfortable seventy two degrees, and a nice circulation in the room, though what made it was not known. It was dark yes, but not dark enough to warrant night vision, for even Lilo could see with relative ease in this place.

Lilo and Stitch walked forward a bit. The place looked like a damn church! They were at the top of a massive rectangular room where in the center was a ramp leading downward toward the stage, and what something there that couldn't quite be identified, and a grand pipe organ behind it. It was one of the biggest Lilo had ever seen, though admittedly except once she'd only seen them in pictures. It was all polished brass and silver and cherry. It was probably never even played, placed there just for vanity, as would be indicated by the fact that there were large speakers placed strategically around the organ. But that was not what was the oddest about this room. Though it looked like a grand chapel, there were no benches, no seats. To the sides of the ramp were… things. Each one was different from the others, so the place looked more like a very neatly placed storage unit than something an audience would come to.

As they walked down the ramp toward the stage, both Lilo and Stitch looked off to the sides to see just what all these things were. It soon became clear that this wasn't storage, but a display. The isles aside the ramp were walkways, with areas roped off. It was in these areas that these things were being displayed. They were art pieces! They were paintings, very old ones by the look of it. There were statues of old people doing whatever, a unique activity to each statue, and again, they were all very old. There were There were unwound antique grandfather clocks. Countless tapestries depicting everything from Old Testament stories, to great oriental battle scenes, to what could only be described as ancient Greek porn. There were ancient rusting swords and suits of armor. There were scrolls and books. There was pottery of every culture and time period. This place wasn't a chapel at all, but a museum! It was a museum filled with one of a kind antiquities from all over the world, and it was all solely for the private enjoyment of the emperor. Strangely, there was not a single Polynesian artifact to be seen. It was a message to all saw it that the only culture the emperor truly despised was the very one he ruled over.

At last, Lilo and Stitch reached the stage, and climbed the few steps to get up on top. Now they could see what that thing was in the center of the stage. It was a chair. It was a giant chair. It was a red and gold velvet chair with a cherry frame, and it's back was turned toward them. The lights in room brightened, not by much, but enough to make both Stitch and Lilo look up in curiosity.

The chair turned around smoothly. It turned until it was facing Lilo and Stitch. Sitting in that chair, in a red silk robe and a superfluous number of gold and jewel encrusted rings, with a stemless wine glass in one hand bigger than his head, and an open bottle in the other, was Emperor 626.

"Emperor." Stitch muttered just loud enough to be heard.

"Stitch!" Emperor 626 shouted jovially. "My defective double! How are ya' buddy! How's little Lilo doing? Full blown PTSD yet or are we still working on that one? It never ceases to amaze me just how fragile human psyches are, especially those of children."

"Don't play with us 626." Lilo grumbled.

"Oh fine. Be that way!" The emperor said with an angry smirk. He took a sip of his wine and made playful kissy noises at Lilo.

Stitch growled out loud at this display.

"I told you-"

"Don't be such a damn spoilsport." The emperor interrupted Lilo before she could finish.

Emperor 626 hopped lightly out of his chair, careful not to spill his glass. Lilo immediately reacted by backing up, almost falling off the edge of the stage. Stitch made a quick concerned glance toward Lilo. NO! He couldn't take his eyes off of the emperor for a moment. Stitch instantly corrected himself.

"This is the end isn't it?" The emperor squeeled out. "I mean, the end for one of us anyhow. We should spend these moments feeling good you know what I mean? Breaking out the good stuff, sniffing some lace, top of the world, but nooooo! You anal retentive truth and justice mongrels have to make everything as morbid as you possibly can don't you!"

Emperor 626 sighed out loud and took another sip of his wine before setting his glass the bottle on the ground next to him.

"Where is time board!" Stitch barked out angrily.

"And there's another thing with you people." The emperor responded. "You always have to get right to the point you never have any time for idle chat."

"Where is it!" Stitch yelled out.

Emperor 626 was struck silent for just a moment by Stitch's demonstration of anger. "Snappy, snappy! Why don't you go take a Valium like a normal person?"

The emperor at once turned his attention toward Lilo and flashed her a smile that didn't at all make her comfortable. Lilo backed away as Emperor 626 started to walk toward her so casually. Stitch matched the Emperor's every move, ready to pounce him at a moment's notice. Emperor 626 saw this, but made like he wasn't paying attention. His eyes and ears turned instead toward Lilo, who was now breathing quite fast.

"But as for you," The emperor said in a sly whisper. "I know a few tricks that'd fix you up so much better than any pill."

Lilo fell down from panic and started crawl backwards. "Get away from me." She just managed to grumble.

"Naga ever touch Lilo!" was a scream heard from right behind the Emperor.

He turned around to face Stitch with that same sly smile. "Oh, you people don't know the meaning of a good time. It was just for kicks and giggles that's all. I swear I would never do anything to damage the little girl."

Stitch growled and bared his teeth at Emperor 626.

The emperor's face became quite stern than, and he spoke with a dire intensity for only one sentence. "I was being serious when I said I wouldn't hurt her."

"Huh?" Was all Stitch could manage to say in return. Indeed the emperor's statement had confused him because he seemed genuine when he said it, and furthermore Stitch had a strange feeling he was being genuine, in his own twisted way.

Stitch refocused as fast as he could. "Where is time board!"

"It's on my bed." The emperor said as casually as he could. "In my room. The door's right beneath the organ over there."

A split second's glance behind the chair from both Lilo and Stitch showed that to be true. The seat to the organ was eight feet in the air, and just below it was a rather plain looking white door.

"So." Stitch said. "We fight?"

"Actually," Emperor 626 responded. "I have a better idea."

Emperor 626 snapped his fingers and some kind of rumbling was heard from all over. The floor seemed to vibrate with it. It started to get louder, and then…

It was only then that Lilo and Stitch realized the red fabric walls of the room were in fact curtain. From behind the curtains, soldiers poured out, hundreds of them. The black armors clanked against the ground, so many of them that the sound was diluted into something that sounded like applause. The black armored soldiers surrounded the room and barricaded Lilo and Stitch inside. Soon, not one bit of the wall was not covered by them. They all gripped their carbines ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Stitch was stunned by the behavior. He was thinking rationally yes, but now there was nothing that could be done. Lilo was right there beside him, he had no weapons, the emperor was staring him down, there was nothing he could do now. Emperor 626 was in total control.

"Now, now, now Stitchy witchy, you don't wan't you're precious widdle human to end up extra crispy from the crossfire now do you?"

Stitch and Emperor 626 turned toward Lilo, who was now pressing her back against the side of the emperor's chair as hard as she could while hyperventilating.

Stitch grit his teeth. He should've seen this coming. There was no possible way the emperor would give up his time machine so easily as to only guard it himself. Stitch took a few steps back, and took the few steps down the stairs from the stage back onto the ramp.

"That's right." The emperor said.

In a flash, the Emperor 626 spun around an grabbed something from off of his chair. It was a hand blaster! He shot at Stitch before he had a time to react. It was a net. Stitch was enveloped.

"Ah! Ha! Ha!" Emperor 626 laughed out loud. "I can't believe you fell for that so easily!"

Stitch growled and snarled furiously as he tried to break this net, shred it with his claws, and with his teeth. But the net, with it's mirror like surface, wouldn't rend.

"Give it up will you?" Emperor 626 shouted with annoyance. "That's pure carbon nanotube, not even you can break it. Hell, not even I can break it!"

Reluctantly, Stitch stopped struggling. Lilo stared at Stitch helpless in that bag. She stared at him with longing and helplessness. Stitch could only cry.

"Now to make you just a bit less mobile." The emperor muttered to himself.

He set his glass on the arm of his char and then unlatched the ammo tank from his blaster. He reached back into the chair and grabbed another tank, replacing it in the blaster. Emperor 626 turned around and shot at Stitch again. It was another net. This one had stakes on the corners. It hit Stitch square in the chest, and the stakes drove themselves into the floor, pinning Stitch in place.

"Now that that's over with, time for me to have a bit of fun." The emperor whispered to himself.

Lilo tried to keep herself from loosing it. Her eyes were closed and she was sitting down against the emperor's chair hugging her knees. She felt a familiar hand on her chin and willingly lifted her head up at its suggestion.

Lilo opened her eyes. Emperor 626 was standing right above her. Again, at the suggestion of the hand on her chin, Lilo stood up.

"Such a prime grade cut of human being, I can see how Stitch became so fond of you."

The emperor's words sent a piercing chill down Lilo's spine and made her hair stand on end. Her hands started shivering. She couldn't speak, or scream, or even struggle. Not like doing any of those things would be of any use to her now. She was paralyzed and absolutely helpless but to stand and take whatever Emperor 626 wanted to dish out.

"You know, you've had pretty crappy life. You're parents dying in a car crash, being taken away by social services, not to mention living with that total bitch of an older sister who works at a dead end job as a salse clerk. I'm amazed you haven't become a street thug!"

What the hell did he just say? Emperor 626 was just talking about her life in the old world. That world didn't exist anymore. How could the emperor know anything about that. Her dismayed curiosity got the best of her fright, and she now found herself able to whisper.

"How do you know that?"

"I've had an inside perspective." The emperor whispered back.

Emperor 626 turned toward one soldier in particular, one soldier next to the door to his room. Lilo turned to look. Something was different about that one. It was shorter than the rest, a full eight inches shorter at the very least.

Emperor 626 nodded his head toward that short soldier, and he reach behind his head and pulled off his helmet, his gas mask falling to the floor once its support was gone. Lilo saw, in shock, anger, confusion, and so many other mixed emotions. That he wasn't a he at all, but a she.

"Nani?" Lilo whispered with tears in her eyes.

Nani scowled at Lilo, and remained silent.

"Nani?" Lilo whispered again. Her tears had broken through and were now trailing down the sides of her nose. "Nani? You're the traitor?"

Nani just scowled harder.

"Why?"

"I already told you why." Nani at last answered, though quite angrily. "It's impossible to beat the emperor. It can't be done. I dunno know about you kiddo, but I like to be on the side of surviving."

"That's right!" The emperor yelled out gleefully. "I'm the best! Nobody tops the emperor… Oh, by the way Nani, you mind if I?" And he motioned his head toward Lilo.

"I don't care." Nani answered. "I dunno who she is."

"Yes you do!" Lilo screamed back. "I'm your sister!"

"No you're not!" Nani shrieked out, grinding her teeth. "My sister is dead you hear me? She's dead!"

"Temper, temper little lady." Emperor 626 said with a smirk.

Nani just huffed to herself and sat down on the edge of the Emperor's chair, staring down at the plasma carbine in her hands.

Emperor 626 giggled to himself briefly and then turned his attention back to Lilo. One quick step forward and Lilo was given such a fright that she tripped over her own feet and fell backwards. Emperor 626 caught her in his arms, leaning over her and smiling. Lilo was shivering and unable to move. Emperor 626 stuck his face right up to hers and inhaled slowly.

"You smell delicious." Emperor 626 whispered in ecstasy. "I know! How would you like to become a member of the league of the emperor's chosen children?"

Emperor 626 reached behind and grabbed Lilo's hair, pulling her head back. He licked his lips tenaciously. Lilo suddenly felt the most horrid thing. Emperor 626 had his tongue on the nape of her neck, and was slowly dragging it upward. His saliva was trailing down into her shirt and onto her chest. Less the feeling, but the knowledge of what was happening turned Lilo's gut into lead and nauseated her.

Stitch saw this, and struggled again. His strength served no use against the carbon nanotube net. His screams were muffled by the mirror like fabric trailing across his face.

Still, this was enough to get the attention of Emperor 626, who eyed at Stitch, and then dropped Lilo, who fell to the ground and began choking on something that wasn't even there.

"Oh don't be so pissable Stitch!" Emperor 626 yelled out at him with a voice filled with sarcastic playfulness. "I wasn't to hurt poor little Lilo, I was just going to molest her that's all!"

Stitch looked up at Nani. She still sat there on the arm of that chair, lost in her own little world. Nothing the emperor had said had even gotten her to flinch. Even if she was convinced Lilo was not her sister, she should still show some sign of concern even for a strange child. But nothing, not an especially deep breath, not even a moment's sour grin. It was as if Nani was no longer human.

Emperor 626 scratched his head and looked up for a few seconds. He snapped his fingers and looked back down.

"I know what's wrong with the two of you." He said, and hopped back up into his chair, grabbing his glass and bottle while he was at it. "You people don't know how to enjoy the finger things in life."

The emperor's gaze turned to the right, to Lilo, who was now on her butt and trying to slide away from him as slowly as possible, but his sudden look froze her in her tracks.

"Take this for instance." He said, holding up his bottle. "1811 Chateau d'Yquem. That was the year of the comet. It shown so brightly that it looked like daytime at three AM. The wines produced that year were described as being brewed in heaven itself. This one bottle here cost me forty thousand dollars."

The emperor poured a little more into his glass and downed the whole thing in one gulp. He came too shivering slightly with his fur sticking up on end.

"It's good." The emperor said quietly. "But what's even better, is the feeling you get from destroying something priceless."

Emperor 626 tossed his glass aside. It shattered on impact with the floor. He stood up on his chair, took a look at his bottle, still half full, and then threw it right at Lilo. Lilo saw it, a huge twirling bottle flying right at her. It was going to smash right into her. But it was too fast. Everything happened too fast for Lilo to even register, _there's a bottle flying at me and I need to duck before it hits me_. But it didn't hit her. Less than a foot from her face, the bottle exploded into a thousand tiny fragments. Wine was thrown into the air in a fine mist. Lilo was covered, covered with wine and with tiny bits of glass. She screamed.

The instant she came to, Lilo found the emperor doubled over in his chair laughing hysterically, with a blaster in one hand. Stitch was screaming and clawing at the insides of his net, even though he knew it would do no good. Lilo was shaking, scarcely able to breath. Nani was now back away from the scene toward the door. She was staring right at what was happening, giving not one damn for it. And the rest of the soldiers in the room, they just stood their ground, looking like statues.

The emperor finally got over his laughing fit and got back up in his seat. He stared at Lilo dreamily, holding his chin up with one arm propped on the arm of his chair.

"If we're going to have any fun here we've gotta have some tunes to go along with it." He spoke out loud.

Emperor 626 looked forward toward the end of his chair's arm. There were buttons in a polished chrome panel, a tiny keyboard. He pushed a few and paused, and then pushed about twenty more.

"How 'bout some classic swing for the occasion?" He yelled out.

With that, Emperor 626 pulled out his blaster once again and fired it, not quite at Lilo. The green globule hit the floor just next to her, but the small shockwave threw her over a few feet, and she rolled off the stage.

As she hit the floor below, she hadn't the luxury to react to the pain, she got p and ran forward, into the sidelines of the room, into the displays of antiquities.

At that moment, what should come blaring out of the speakers placed around the organ but the only swing tune that could be described as musical wanking, Tequila, by Herd Albert and the Tijuana Brass.

Hiding behind a small plastic pillar topped with an ornate orange vase, Lilo screamed in fright and ran after another blast went off right above her, shattering the vase and throwing the small plastic pillar across the room. Lilo neared an old painting and another shot of plasma ate right through the center and split the painting in half, sending both burning halved plummeting down ontop of Lilo. Lilo threw the pieces off of herself and ran again, the tears literally flying off her face into the air as she moved so fast, but it was no use. She neared a marble bust of some nameless Greek good, and another streaking glob of plasma hit it dead center and sent chunks of blackened marble flying through the air. She ran again.

Emperor 626 was beside himself, laughing so hard tears were pouring from his eyes. Anything Lilo got close to, he would destroy, sending her off in the other direction. She zigzagged to and fro like a fleeing rabbit. A human being reduced to a rabbit. It was hilarious beyond words, and the emperor, not even trying to contain his side splitting laughter, could hardly even aim properly with his hands shaking.

Lilo tried hiding behind and old suit of Japanese armor, but it was no use, it got her there to. The armor exploded sending dense hemp rope, bamboo and steel scales fluttering through the air looking like the result of a feather pillow fight. The scales and bamboo scratched against Lilo, cutting her just barely enough to draw blood. She shrieked and tried running straight up. She climbed up the stairs but another blast hit a large tapestry right above her, and she was covered with the burning rug before she could do anything. Lilo scrambled to get out from under the burning rug before she would catch fire herself. She barely managed to do it.

Not even looking where she was going, Lilo ran across the sidelines, everything she passed shattered, burned, crushed, or other wised destroyed by green orbs of plasma. She wanted to run further, but another Statue was hit, right at the base, and it fell down right in front of her. She took off in the opposite direction, everything she passed once again destroyed by plasma fire, until finally she was on the ramp in the center of the room. A final blast landing right behind Lilo knocked her off balance and she rolled down the ramp, over Stitch, hitting painfully the side of the stairs to the stage.

As soon as she was sitting up, a blue furry hand grabbed hers and dragged her on stage. Emperor 626 wrapped his hands around Lilo and began a cruel mockery of a ballroom dance. She was too tired now and too disoriented to even try to resist. Her body went limp involuntarily, all the better for the emperor. Emperor 626 bounced around the stage with Lilo held tight in his grasp. He threw her out, and then pulled her right back, almost dislocating her arm. Then he threw her out the other direction, and yanked her back, nearly dislocating her other arm. The emperor threw Lilo down toward the floor, causing her nearly to vomit, and then flung her back up to his face. At last, he threw her out one more time, this time letting go. Lilo spun around almost five times before falling to the floor and pressing her hands against her twisting stomach.

Emperor 626 dropped his blaster and fell down as well. He fell onto his back laughing until it hurt, and he turned over gasping for air, still laughing when he had enough to breath.

The song began to subside, as did the emperor's laughing. Eventually, Emperor 626 was on his hands and knees heaving for breath, and with only the occasional chuckle to get in the way, he was quickly recovering.

Stitch was still stuck to the floor. Struggling was no use, and even in a completely irrational state one had to learn that sometime. Stitch was now only weeping to himself silently as he watched what would unfold unfold.

Nani stood by the emperor's door. Her body was as relaxed as if she were laying at a beach. Her face was devoid of any form of compassion or concern. If anything, it would seem the only emotional distress she was going through at the moment was boredom. Nani turned her head to the side and sneezed.

The rest of the soldiers in the room still stood their ground like statues.

Emperor 626 finally stood up on two feet and took one huge, long breath before strolling along to Lilo still laying on the ground. She stared up at him on her back. Her vision was blurry, her extremities were numb, and her mouth was dry. If she still had the strength of will to fight back, her muscles had still given out on her, and she hadn't the strength of body.

The emperor laid down on his next to Lilo, staring deep into her eyes while tracing circles with his claw into her stomach.

"I told you something, but I can't seem to…" Emperor 626 paused and looked up for a few seconds, and then looked back down with a smug grin covering his face. "That's it! I was going to make you a member of the emperor's chosen children. Would you like that Lilo?"

Lilo remembered what he did last time he said that, and she could imagine what he would do this time. She could no longer fight back, she could no longer protest, she could no longer even cry. All she could do now was close her eyes and hope that it would be over with as soon as possible.

"I know the others liked it." Emperor 626 whispered into Lilo's ear. "Yes, they were quite eager to prove their loyalty. Now it's time for you to prove yours."

Emperor 626 extended his claw and trailed it gently up Lilo's stomach, up her chest, at last reaching the opening in her sweater for her head. He slid his claw slowly inside the opening, and then flicked it back out, tearing the fabric. A small one inch tare just at the base of the neck, but it was enough of a start. The emperor reached out another hand and grabbed one side of the sweater, and grabbed the other with his other hand. He started to pull.

Stitch only wept harder. However much he wished it, he couldn't stop himself from looking. Lilo did only what she could do, she closed her eyes even tighter and tried to swallow spit that wasn't there. Nani was busy picking her nose. The fabric of Lilo's sweater began to tare, one inch, two inches, three inches, and then.

Something pierced through the air. It was some kind of loud Static. The emperor's attention was instantly roused and he jumped up to try to better hear what it was. Nani looked up as well. The soldiers barricading the room looked all around and then started looking at each other. The sound started to fade, and soon it wasn't there any more.

Stitch still heard it though. To him it was like a rake dragged across a chalkboard, magnified through a thousand watt speaker, and playing from the inside of his skull rather from the outside. Stitch's world exploded into bright flashing lights. The world started spinning and he felt as if his whole body was vibrating like a jackhammer. This sound had brought out a migraine in Stitch.

But in his horrible pain, Stitch couldn't fathom that emperor 626 experiencing the exact same thing. He clutched his ears and fell over. His whole body tightened up and the sounds coming from his mouth were what you could only imagine as the kind of sound a camel would make when being tortured to death.

For the soldiers in the room, it was even worse. They dropped to their knees, and soon dropped to the ground. Their bodies quickly went into grand mal seizures, and after a few minutes, they were no longer breathing.

Nani freaked. She screamed and jumped out from the crowd pointing her carbine at anything and everything. Not knowing what the hell was going on, she had no better idea of what to do than destroy anything that looked suspicious, but nothing did. She spun around looking for something, anything. _BLAM!_ A bullet hit her carbine, sending it flying across the room. Where the hell did that bullet come from?

Nani turned around at looked toward the entrance of the room. It was Sam. He was carrying some kind of large black box on his left shoulder. That was where that noise was coming from! In his right hand he held a massive silver revolver with a black rubber grip. It was one of the more easily recognized guns on the market, a Colt Anaconda, a forty-five magnum, with a laser sighting. The laser was now pointed right between Nani's eyes.

"Get out of here Nani!" Sam yelled from across the room.

Nani stood and stared blankly.

"Get out of here right now or I will kill you!"

Nani took off running, off the stage, up the ramp, past Sam, and out the door into the ruined hall behind it. Sam followed her movements with the gun until she was out of the room with the door closed, and then he locked it behind her. He clicked the safety of his gun back on and holstered it, slowly walking forward until he reached Stitch. Sam placed the speaker on the ground and pulled out a large crowbar. He forced the stakes out of the floor, and then untied the knot holding stitch inside his net. Stitch was in too much pain though to even register that he was being freed. Sam continued to walk forward, up onto the stage, and knelt down over Lilo.

Lilo could see Sam clearly now. She was still too confused to say anything, but she knew who Sam was, and she knew the emperor would no longer be touching her. Sam pulled out a dripping wet rag and began to wipe off the scrapes all over Lilo's arms and face. The liquid that rag was soaked in smelled like almond extract, and it stung a little, but it was soothing, and the aching of those cuts soon went away. Lilo then felt the opening of a bottle forced into her mouth, and water pouring inside. She swallowed as fast as she could, eventually drinking the entire bottle, and gasping for air when the opening was removed.

Lilo's body was beginning to get back its strength, as was her head. She could sit up now, though she was still terribly dizzy, she could at least make sense of her surroundings.

The soldiers were laying motionless on the floor, Nani was nowhere to be found, there was a large speaker on the floor, both Stitch and the emperor were rolling on the floor in unfathomable pain, and Sam seemed to be the cause of it all.

"What's going on?" Lilo asked.

"That speaker is playing a continuous recording of phone static." Sam answered. "Only with the pitch increased five fold, beyond the range of human hearing, and at almost three hundred decibels. You said loud, pitched noises make Stitch's head hurt didn't you?"

"Wow." Was all Lilo could answer.

"It turns out that the imperial soldiers hear just as well as Stitch." Sam continued. "But without his physical integrity, what's is painful to Stitch and the Emperor, is lethal to them."

"You mean they're all dead?"

"Yes. But that speaker is powered by a car battery, and it's being drained fast. As soon as that speaker runs out of power, Stitch and Emperor will regain their composure, and the emperor will kill me."

"Kill you! But-"

"No buts Lilo." Sam interrupted. "Stitch will still have to fight the emperor, but at least now it will be a fair fight, in the meantime you have to hide."

"But you-"

"Don't worry about me." Sam interrupted once again. "If you get back that time board than it won't matter if I die here and now, because you can unmake the Pacific Empire, and none of this will have ever happened."

"Ok." Lilo whispered. "I'll do it."

Lilo ran off to the side of the room, climbed over one of the dead soldiers, and hid behind one of the curtains, barely peaking out from behind them.

That static sound started to come back. It came back and then disappeared again.

Emperor 626 collapsed onto the floor from exhaustion. His world was coming too again. The lights began to fade into gray, and then into his actual surroundings. The spinning world started to right itself.

As soon as he was coherent enough to do so, Emperor 626 looked up to see a huge black man with a beard and a fro and a jungle camo suit. The emperor leapt up and tackled Sam to the ground. He drove his hand through Sam's neck and pulled his spine out the front of his throat.

Lilo gasped at this sight.

Emperor 626 stumbled about with blood dripping from his paw, slowly gaining more and more coordination, until he ran into something. It was Stitch.

"Why do you do it Stitch?" Emperor 626 asked.

"Do what?" Stitch asked back.

"Why do you fight me? We're one in the same. You should be ruling along side me! Not this."

"What makes you think I want to do that?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

"Are you happy?"

"What?" Emperor 626 was bewildered by Stitch's question. What the hell did he mean by it? And why ask it now of all times?

"What the do you mean, am I happy?" Emperor 626 yelled at Stitch. "I'm the unquestionable emperor and god of the pacific islands! These people worship me!"

"But… are you happy?" Stitch asked again.

"Are you happy?" Emperor 626 reversed the table on Stitch. "Are you happy living in a pathetic stilted house, being forced to pretend you're a dog, with people who can barely make ends meet, much less provide you with all the luxuries you could ever want?"

"Ih." Was Stitch's quick and instant response.

"Why?"

"Because I have a family. They love me, and I love them. It is good. Yeah, it's good, but it is too late, for you to understand that."

Emperor 626 growled under his breath. "It sickens me to think that if things turned out differently, I might have become you."

"Ditto."

"So let's end this, right here, right now, once and for all."

"Ih."

Without warning, Emperor 626 smashed his forehead into Stitch's muzzle, sending him flying across the room, straight into a large granite Ganesh statue, shattering it. The emperor jumped clear across the room and landed right ontop of Stitch. He grabbed Stitch and threw him straight up into the ceiling, which too shattered on impact.

Stitch was stopped only when he hit a steel beam, making an impression of his body in it. He grabbed ahold of the beam and flipped himself up on top. This whole hall was made of a frame of steel beams. Stitch got an idea. He grabbed on of the main supporting intersections of the roof and tore it right off.

Emperor 626 looked up as the roof began to crack, and then collapsed right ontop of him.

After the dust settled, Stitch and Emperor 626 burst up from the debris, the emperor's robe now in shreds. Emperor 626 charged at Stitch. Stitch lifted up two steel beams, one in each set of hands, and brought them together, clamping them shut on the emperor's head.

Stitch dropped the beams. Emperor 626 looked like he was plastered. His tongue was hanging out the side of his mouth and blood trickled down from one nostril. Emperor 626 collapsed unconscious over a piece of roofing material.

"Stitch!" Lilo immediately called out, and ran out from behind the curtain.

"Lilo!" Stitch cried back.

The two of them ran toward each other, over the wreckage, and Lilo jumped into Stitch's arms. Stitch ran onto the stage with Lilo in his arms, toward the Emperor's room, tearing the door right off its hinge. There was no time for a warm embrace, there was no telling how long it would take for the emperor to regain consciousness. And indeed, he was already starting to stir.

The emperor's room looked startlingly plain compared to the rest of the palace. It was plan fifteen by twenty five feet with a shag carpet, a large desk piled with paper work in one corner, and a full sized bed in the other. Stitch supposed that if no one else were ever to see this room, than there would be no use in making it a shrine to vanity like the rest of the palace.

Just like the emperor said, the time board was right there on the bed, in pristine condition, minus the wires that were torn out in the emperor's personal attempts to reverse engineer the device.

Stitch and Lilo jumped onto the bed and Stitch frantically went about replacing the wires by trial and error until he found sockets that didn't make them spark.

Emperor 626 slowly stood up, rubbing his head in a futile effort to get rid of his ringing headache. He saw what was happening. Stitch was finished replacing the wires on the device, and was no punching in coordinates, something which he himself didn't know how to do.

Emperor 626 panicked and ran. He ran as fast as he could toward his room, toward Stitch and Lilo.

At last Stitch got all the coordinates punched in. He pulled the lever, and he and Lilo jumped on the board. As the board started to hover in mid air, and bright light began to surround Lilo and Stitch, they heard a scream, and turned.

The last thing they saw just before their entire world was enveloped in light was the emperor flying toward them.


	22. The End of a Nightmare

**Review Responses: **

**To Bluefox:** A couple things aside from your reviews for a moment.  
Can you recommend this story to The Great Red Dragon X? One reason is that he writes some of the best reviews in this section. The main reason though, is that I see him as my personal rival here, both as a writer and as a reviewer. So I would really love to see what he thinks of this work.  
Second, what ever happened to 'The Armored Angels'? That was a good 'fic and you seemed to have given up on it! Was it because of what I said? Just because your idea is similar to one I have doesn't mean you should quit. I wanna' read that story dammit! Despite however it may or may not resemble something I came up with.

**To Ri2:** I thought that was very climactic! Just because you don't have an awesome fight sequence doesn't mean something can't be climactic. The focus of the chapter was the twisted interaction between Stitch, Lilo, and the Emperor. I personally thought that would give far more depth and drama than just a bunch of fighting.

**To A. Nonymous:** You're right. I didn't do that intentionally! I had that planned out from the very beginning. You might have noticed that I've been dropping hints as to that event throughout the story with Stitch's painful reactions to loud noises.

**To all who asked:** Yes, Emperor 626 was intent on raping Lilo. And yes, his comment about the other chosen children can be taken as implied.

**Notes:**

Well, this is it. This is the end of the story.

I spent too damn long writing this thing and now I'm happy to move on to other projects. However, I won't be continuing with Gems of Tomorrow immediately. Instead I'm going to start working on something I've been planning on since before I even came up with the idea for The Only Thing Worse than Dying. It's a saga fic (many episodes, as in a series) of Digimon. A little background on it is as follows: it's been forty three years since the events of Tamers –season three– and the world has taken a turn for the worse. Some figure working in the shadows of a long thought dead organization is now gathering a new group of tamers from across the world, not to save humans from Digimon, but to save Digimon from humans.

After I get done with the first episode I'll get started on Gems of Tomorrow again. After that I'll trade off between the two, writing a chapter for one, and then a chapter for the other.

By the way, there's a new up and coming writer for you all to check out. His name is Deathdoesn't-matter. He's only got two stories up so far. The first one isn't very good. It's little more than a mindless gorefest. But the second one titled, 'Puppet of the Shadow' is excellent! I think of it as a masterwork of subtlety and quiet suspense. Subtlety has never been something I was good at so I find his work astounding, probably more so than most others would. But don't take this as I'm hyping the story, I assure you it is excellent!

* * *

A large circular window opened up into the darkness of the pouring rain, shooting red light out of it as bright as a searchlight into the night. Only the occasional flash of lightning would outdo this window in terms of its sheer brightness. The window opened up to a place of pure swirling red. Impenetrable white smoke formed from thin air and swirled around the edges of this window, to be sucked inside once it reached the circumference. In the distance, in the window, a small object headed forward at an incredible speed. There wouldn't be much time for any kind of observer to register what it was before it came hurtling out of that window. 

The time board flew out and crashed hard against the slippery wet surface of the outcropping halfway between the winding road above and the ocean below. The Wind pounded so hard that the spray of the ocean made it the whole fifty or so feet up to that outcropping and over, soaking anything that would stand on it. The board skidded and spun around the rock, throwing all occupants off. Lilo found her head spinning and her stomach twisting from the sudden halt and being thrown through the air. She landed with a thud on her stomach, which was fortunate since any other spot would either have causes serious pain, or worse.

As soon as the world came back into focus, Lilo once again found her head dangling off the side of a cliff, looking straight down at the churning ocean below. Lilo flailed her arms about in the air as she desperately tried to find something, anything to grab hold of. It was right in front of her the entire time, the rocky ground her shoulders were resting on. As soon as she realized this, she threw herself backward with her arms and landed on her back with the rain dumping onto her face. Only now did she realize that the rain was soaking her, and the cold and wind was numbing her extremities. She didn't mind though. Unlike last time she was on this cliff, in this storm, the rain and the cold felt good. You never realize how horrible you feel until you start to feel better, and this was no exception. The rain began washing all the dirt and grime from her cuts and scrapes. They started to bleed again, and it stung, but her body no longer felt so horribly dirty and sticky. Her joints, once aching to the point of barely being able to move, were now being dulled and soothed by the icy rain pouring over her. It was a compromise Lilo was glad to give.

Lilo lay there on the hard rock ground letting the ice cold water rush passed her, her eyes closed to keep it out. Not only her physical pain and discomfort, but it was as if the horrible things Emperor 626 had done, and was about to do to her was also being washed away by this rain. For the first time in a long time, Lilo let her body relax, and all her muscles let go of their tension.

Lilo tilted her head back in an especially heavy breath, unaware of what might happen if she did. The ice cold water flowed down her nose and stung the inside of her head. Lilo immediately turned over and blew as hard as she could out of her nose until she was out of breath, and then did so again with her next breath.

Lilo looked over to her side to see Stitch sitting upright and staring off into the black horizon. He looked no better. His hands were all badly burned, his chest was also burned, but far more lightly. Large patches of his hair were either burned down to a short length, or burned off entirely, exposing the pale skin beneath, patches of which were bright red, as if horribly sunburnt. It was a bit strange, Stitch too seemed to be enjoying the ice cold rain. He sat and breathed heavily while looking off into the horizon with squinted eyes. It was strange considering Stitch aversion to water, but considering the circumstances, it must feel just as good for him as it did for her. Indeed, she could see the water running off him was darker than the water hitting him, and such freezing cold rocks and rain would feel great on his body covered with those burns.

Lilo Scooted over and leaned against Stitch, her head on his shoulder. Stitch didn't react except to close his eyes and yawn.

"It's over Stitch." Lilo said.

Stitch gave no acknowledgment of what he heard, except to wrap both his left arms around her shoulder.

"All we have to do now is sit and wait." Lilo continued. "We wait here and do nothing, then we go back home, and none of this will have ever happened."

"Oh but it will happen."

Lilo turned to Stitch, it sounded Like him, but Stitch stared back at her with his eyes wide, and shook his head at her.

"Emperor 626." Lilo whispered, her face just as in shock as his own.

Both Lilo and Stitch stood up and turned around.

There he was. He was standing on the back of the time board, on top of Jumba's engine with his gold rings and tattered red robe and all four of his arms folded. Emperor 626 had the look of someone who'd just won the lottery, but neither Stitch nor Lilo could fathom why.

"What? How?" Lilo screamed at no one in particular.

"Emperor grab time board!" Stitch shouted at Lilo directly.

"More specifically, I clung to the bottom so you wouldn't see me." Emperor 626 corrected. "Smacked my head pretty damn good on the rock when we finally came out."

Emperor 626 unfolded his arms and dropped off the engine. As he walked forward, both Stitch and Lilo walked back. Lilo faltered as she almost walked right off the cliff, until Stitch grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back.

"I have to thank you for bringing me back." The emperor continued. "Now that I'm here, and I'm guessing it's about a year before I was supposed to show up, not only do I now get a head start on everyone else, but I can also establish my empire all over again without repeating the mistakes I made the first time."

Emperor 626, now a foot away from Lilo and Stitch, who were back up against the edge of the cliff, thrust his face right into Stitch's, stopping only an inch away. Stitch jumped startled, and almost lost his balance, falling over off the cliff until Lilo grabbed both his right arms and pulled him back.

They came to seeing the emperor giggling to himself. But his face snapped back into direness as soon as he saw they were looking at him.

"Mistakes like that nice trick you pulled with the tweeter in my gallery. I'll be sure to avoid that little weakness this time around."

"You're not going to get another time around!" Lilo yelled.

"Feboogo!" Stitch yelled as well, as he jumped toward the emperor and tackled him to the ground.

Stitch and Emperor 626 rolled about in the rain, on the rock, not paying attention to where they were going, each only trying to pin the other beneath him. They rolled straight into a large rock, which for just a split second came between them. Emperor 626 took advantage of this by reaching his arms around the rock, and pushing Stitch's face straight into it, smashing it into fragments that went flying about. Pebbles sprayed against Lilo, who had to shield her eyes from them with her arm.

Stitch came back up with his teeth clenched and a small trickle of pink blood running down the side of his lip. He wasted no time in tackling Emperor 626 once again, and again they rolled around the ground not caring to pay attention to where they were going.

Lilo ran to the back of the cliff. If she stood where she was, than the fight would surely knock her off. Stitch and the emperor rolled right passed her and she could only watch. Again, it was Emperor 626 that got the upper hand, pinning Stitch against the ground. Emperor 626 grabbed Stitch by the fur on his sternum, pulled him up, and than punched him right in the muzzle, back down to the rock ground that shattered on impact with his head. The emperor grabbed him again, and hit him back down again, five times in all. Stitch was now disoriented and had blood running out of both nostrils as he saw Emperor 626 extend the claws on all four of his hands and thrust them right at his face. Stitch caught the emperor's arms by the wrists less than an inch away from them digging into his eyes. He desperately tried to push the emperor's arms back.

Lilo ran off to grab another, even bigger rock. This time she would smash it down on the emperor with her own hands. Lilo hobbled about barely able to lift the thing, until at last she was right behind Stitch and Emperor 626's power struggle. Heaving and straining every muscle in her arms, shoulders and back, Lilo lifted the rock above her head.

Emperor 626 took only a moment to turn his head to see what was behind him. He let go of all pressure against Stitch, and Stitch's pushed threw him backwards right into Lilo. They both tumbled into the face of the cliff behind them.

The impact had knocked the wind out of Lilo, and would eventually result in a large bruise on her back. Emperor 626 got up and shook his head clear. He looked forward and found that rock that Lilo was going to pound him with. He jumped or the rock and picked it up in one hand. Emperor 626 slowly walked toward Lilo, stood above her scowling, water running off his face like a faucet.

Lilo couldn't see a thing. From the darkness and her blurred vision, only a fuzz was perceptible in front of her, until lightning flashed. Lilo saw blurry and spinning doubles, but it was still quite clear. Emperor 626 was standing above her, holding that same rock in his hand, ready to bring it down on her.

He was about to, but then he dropped it. Stitch had jumped onto the emperor's back, covering his eyes with his top hands and choking his with his bottom hands. Emperor 626 staggered about and spun around making horrible noises as he tried in vane to scream through the grasp on his throat. The emperor's arms found their way to Stitch's, and he dug his claws into Stitch's flesh. Through the pain, Stitch continued his grip over the emperor's eyes and neck. Emperor 626 continued to hobble about, eventually reaching the edge of the cliff. About to turn back, the rocks gave way beneath the emperor's feet, sending both him and Stitch careening down the cliff side toward the boiling ocean below.

Stitch had to let go. Panic stricken, he scratched repeatedly at the cliff, hoping desperately to get a claw into to rock, but the rocks kept giving way and tumbling down the cliff.

At last, there was an area of solid rock, Stitch thrust his hand into it as hard as he could, and bolted himself to the cliff side with only one hand.

There was still something strange. It felt like there was a weight strapped to his ankle. Stitch looked down. Emperor 626 was also being held aloft by one hand, clenched to a tuft of fur on Stitch's ankle. The emperor looked down at the ocean below, and then back up at Stitch. Stitch extended the claws on his lower hand.

Emperor 626 scowled at Stitch, his ears drooped down against his body, and shook his head. Stitch smiled, and nodded his.

With one swipe of his paw, Stitch cut the tuft of fur from his ankle, leaving the emperor to fall screaming into the ocean below, clinging to that tuft of fur the whole time. Emperor 626 hit the water with the force of a head on collision. He hysterically tried to paddle his way back up to the surface with his arms, but it was no use, he kept sinking. At long last, Emperor 626 let out a scream of rage, muffled by the water, in turn letting out his last breath. His arms and legs began to slow down, as did his heart. After no longer being able to take it, Emperor 626 took a deep breath. His lungs filled with water, and he sank into the sea, down until there was nothing but darkness.

Stitch stared down at the ocean for some time now. He had seen the emperor go down, he had seen bubbles come up. Emperor 626 was dead. He could now never touch Hawaii, he could never touch his family, and he could never touch Lilo. There was nothing left to do now except for a word of solace for the newly departed.

"Meega Nala Queesta…" Stitch whispered to himself, and he hawked a loogie into the ocean below him.

Stitch swung his body around and thrust his other three hands into the sides of the cliff. He began his slow and careful climb back to the top.

Lilo was curled up and shivering against the corner of the cliff, trying to use it was a shield from the rain. What once the cold and the rain felt good on her, now it getting to her. The cold was starting new aches of its own and her nose was running and she was starting to get light headed. But through it all, she managed to see a hand reach up from off the edge of the cliff, and pry a small, blue furred creature with four arms, a pair of antennae, and quills extending from his back up onto the outcropping of rock. This creature walked over two her with a tired and heavy stride.

Lilo pushed herself against the cliff.

"Are you Stitch?" She cried out.

"Ih! Is Stitch." She heard back from the creature.

"Prove it!"

Prove it? How was he going to do that? Stitch searched his mind for the answer, but out of the blue the answer came to him without needing to be looked for.

"Ohana means family." Stitch said. "And family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten."

The familiar phrase only Stitch would know. Lilo stood up and threw herself at him, landing in his arms and burying her head in his chest. Stitch held Lilo against him as tight as he thought he could without hurting her. Despite the freezing cold, the pain, the numbness, and the wetness, this was the most content either of them had been for the past month.

"What about Emperor 626?" Lio whispered.

"Emperor is dead." Stitch answered. "Is all over now."

Hearing those words, a flood of emotion was unleashed in Lilo. Knowing nothing else to do with it, she burst out crying. They stood there like that for what had to be ten minutes, cold, wet, numb, aching, near delirious, and happier than either of them had been in a long time.

Stitch parted his eyes just a bit. He saw something in the distance. It was something on the road, a light of some kind. Stitch loosened his grip on Lilo as he focused on that distant speck.

"What is it Stitch?" Lilo asked.

"Parents." Stitch answered.

Stitch looked straight into Lilo's eyes. "Does Lilo want to… see them… one more time?"

Lilo nodded her head.

Stitch walked over to the cliff face, Lilo climbed on his back, and they both began ascending the cliff.

A deafeningly close flash of lightning sliced right through the base of a palm tree growing out of the cliff and hanging over the road. The tree fell down onto the road blocking it.

The apex of the super-cell was passing over Kauai that very night. It stormed so hard you couldn't see ten feet in front of you, except when a flash of lightning illuminated the scenery for only a split second.

A winding road built into its winding cliff face was at the center of the storm's pounding. And out of either desperation, or sheer idiocy, someone was driving down that very road.

A beat up old wooden station wagon turned the bend and came into view. Its high beams on and its wipers at full blast.

Inside the car one could barely hear Elvis' _All Shook Up_ playing over the sound of the storm outside.

In the driver's seat was the skinny, middle aged Eric Pelkai pretending to be in his twenties. His hair was clearly dyed and spiked up, you could tell just from the bit that stuck out of his sideways black baseball cap with the phrase 'Vietnam Vet' sowed into the front in bright yellow. His typical goldenrod Hawaiian shirt was halfway unbuttoned and a pair of expensive shades hung loosely from the first joined button at the bottom of his chest. Looking further down would reveal he wore frayed jean shorts with an empty buck knife holster strapped to his belt.

Eric leaned toward the windshield intently with both hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

In the front passenger's seat sat a middle aged Keala Pelekai who was clearly much more modest. She wore a sleeveless, blue button up shirt and jeans, and had her hair back in a ponytail. More than that there was really not much to say about her.

She stared intently at a book of roadmaps she was pressing against the dashboard. She turned the book on its side and brought her face in for a closer look.

In the back seat, with her nose in a gameboy, was a very familiar little girl in a red mumu dotted with yellow flowers.

"I can't see anything in this storm!" Eric finally spoke up.

Eric lifted one hand off the steering wheel to rub a small gold statue of a fat Elvis sitting in the lotus position as if her were the Buddha.

"Please be watchin' ova' us now." Eric said as he took his hand off the Elvis Buddha and back to the steering wheel.

Eric continued, "How far away's Kokaua again?"

Keala looked up from her book toward Eric. "We should be thea' any minute now." She told him. "We might've already passed it without knowing."

"Damn…" Eric whispered to himself.

He then turned his head back toward the little girl in the back seat.

"Hey Lilo? When we get to Nani's I want you to put away that game and spend as much time as ya' can wit'er. We're not gonna' see her for four yea's when she's in college at Honolulu."

Lilo paused the game and looked up. "But you said we'd spend every summer there so we could."

"LOOK OUT!"

In reaction to Keala's scream, Eric whipped his head around just soon enough to see a downed palm tree a few feet away from the windshield. It was too late to react.

The wagon smashed into the tree just above the level of the windshield. The hood had been scraped right off the car and now lay in pieces on the road. Everything in the front half of the cab from just above the windshield was scrunched up like an accordion. Amazingly, there was almost no damage to the back half.

Lilo slowly came to. Surrounded by blurry double images of people she'd never seen before. She was laying down. She tried to get up but couldn't move. There were canvas straps holding her down and a brace around her neck.

The storm had calmed and the downpour had turned into a light sprinkle.

The minutes passed as Lilo's vision slowly got better. She could now make out the people around her. They were all paramedics. Why was she surrounded by paramedics? Out of the corner of her eye Lilo could make out what looked to be emergency beds covered by bulging sheets. The front half of the sheets were covered in blood, and blood dripped down from the beds onto the road. Those weren't just sheets, there were people under them, dead people.

Lilo could finally hear straight, and listened to what two paramedics near the beds were saying.

"Eric and Keala Pelekai, according to thea' wallets"

"Who's the girl?"

"Thea' daughter I'm guessin'. We still dunno' her name."

"So… gimme' da gory details."

"Well, they crashed into da tree you know already. Just above da windshield. Front half of da cab was totaled. Thea' faces were bashed right in ya know. They both died in less then half a second."

"Mom? … Dad…?" Lilo whispered to herself.

The paramedics continued their conversation. "This really freaks me out I'm gonna go off for a smoke."

Lilo followed as best she could as the paramedic walked by her, over to the edge of the road.

She watched as the paramedic lit up a cigarette and began smoking it. And then a flash of lightning caused him to pause and stare off in the distance.The flash had illuminated the silhouette of a person on a not too distant ledge overlooking the gruesome scene.

Watching the whole scene from that ledge was another, slightly older, and far more beaten up Lilo. Stitch lay down on the ground on his stomach right next to her. It was now only sprinkling, and it was getting warmer.

This was what had to be done. Lilo knew this now not only in fact, but in spirit as well. She knew neither she nor Stitch could interfere with what was happening, the death of her parents. She was staring right it, for the third time in her life, and she was just watching as an outsider. She saw the paramedics walking about, some stopping to examine the gurneys with the red stains on them. Those were her mother and father, now nothing more than red stains on sheets draped over gurneys. But that was the way it had to be, and Lilo accepted that. So then why did she insist on seeing this once again?

Stitch lifted himself up to a sitting position and looked over at Lilo. He saw something incredible. Her hands were clenched tight, and she was pouring out tears, but… she was smiling. She was smiling? She had just willingly watched her mother and father die before her very eyes. How could she be smiling?

The answer came in a few words Lilo whispered just then.

"Bye mom. Bye dad."

That was it. Stitch remembered what Lilo had said before. All she ever truly wanted was to say goodbye to them. It seemed now she had finally gotten that opportunity, and she didn't hesitate to take it. Though how badly she must've been feeling at that moment, Stitch couldn't even try to understand and he knew it, she had gotten to say goodbye, and that was just enough to force a smile out of her face, and one of the most genuine smiles Stitch had ever seen.

"Come on Lilo." Stitch whispered. "Let's go home."

Lilo turned toward Stitch and nodded. "Yeah Stitch. Let's go home."

Lilo climbed again onto Stitch's back, and they both started to descend the cliff back to that outcropping where Jumba's time board was waiting for them.

The paramedic dropped the cigarette from his lips and stared at ledge for several more minutes until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He jumped and turned around to find another paramedic looking back at him."You okay?" The second paramedic asked.

The first paramedic turned back toward the ledge. "There was someone there. There on that ledge. He was lookin' at us."

Both paramedics turned toward the ledge and looked out for another minute. A flash of lightning once again illuminated the ledge, but this time there was no silhouette.

"There ain't nothin' thea' man." The second paramedic said. "I think this scene's gettin' to ya head."

The paramedics turned around and began to walk back toward the accident when they heard a cry.

"Who was he? What did he do to mom and dad?"

They both turned around and saw Lilo staring up at them with her face bright red.

"Ah crap! She's awake!" Was all Lilo heard as she felt a hot sting on the back of her hand, and the lights went out.

* * *

A familiar bright red window opened onto a sunny afternoon street. A few seconds later, a surfboard with a red stripe and a bizarre looking engine mounted on the back came flying out. The board landed in the street side ditch, its impact cushioned by all the weeds that grew there. The board slowed to a gentle halt and Lilo and Stitch got off. 

Stitch dragged the board up to the street and they both looked out. A young couple was walking down the street. They were walking down the street in the middle of the day! They were wearing bluejeans! One of them had a blue, flowery Hawaiian shirt on while the other wore a green t-shirt with pictures of characters from some popular Saturday morning cartoon! They both walked around in flipflops!

Lilo and Stitch both walked out into the street. Their eyes started to water in the sheer relief and joy at what they saw. They saw houses with the blinds and windows open. Sometimes even the doors were open. Sometimes, there were even people out on their front porches. They were doing absolutely nothing but enjoying doing nothing. They seemed to have no fear.

A car passed by, slowing to turn around Lilo and Stitch, and then speeding back up once it had passed. Both Stitch and Lilo kept their eyes on that car. It was small. More than that though, it wasn't gray. It was a light sea blue with a cheap glitter finish. What was the logo? A silver oval surrounding a silver cross formed of two rings seen from the side. It was a Toyota Echo! It was a Japanese foreign car being driven down the streets of Hawaii, and no one seemed to give it a second thought.

There was some guy pulling a cart down the sidewalk. A couple of kids ran up to him and offered him money in exchange for shaved ice. There was a shaved ice vendor wandering down the sidewalk. He was serving children. What's more, he was accepting green money, United States money, one dollar bills with George Washington on the front.

There was one lady on her front porch watering a bunch of hanging potting plants while singing herself some stupid ragtime ditty about having lost her socks and getting sore feet from her shoes. But what was truly extraordinary is that the song wasn't sung in English, but in Hawaiian. Everybody who walked by heard her singing to herself in Hawaiian, but no one gave her a second, glance, or even a first one for that matter.

Lilo began to walk up the driveway to her house. Stitch followed carrying Jumba's time board on his head, balancing it with his hands. She reached the big dirt driveway in front of her house. She looked up. It really was her house! There was a metal pillar jutting up from behind it, holding a large dome on top. That dome was her room.

Lilo looked into the space below he living room. That was her sister's jeep, and right next to it was her dune buggy.

Stitch set down the time board and walked up next to Lilo. They both stared at those two cheap, run down looking vehicles beneath the house as if they were the most incredible things in the world.

Lilo turned to Stitch.

"Go get a blaster Stitch." Lilo said.

"Gabba?" Stitch asked.

Lilo motioned her head. Stitch followed the motion toward the time board laying in the middle of their driveway. Stitch immediately understood what she meant, and began running off toward Jumba's ship. But shortly he stood up with a pain in his back and knees, and was forced to walk the rest of the way.

Lilo watched Stitch walk away with his hand pressed against his back until something turned her attention back to her house.

"Lilo I got you pi…zza."

Lilo turned to see Nani. It wasn't any Nani though. She had long hair. She was wearing her skimpy blue tank top and her tan slacks. Her face was unscathed, no Scar, no look of perpetual hate and despair.

Nani dropped the slice of pizza in her hand.

"Oh my god Lilo! What happened!" Nani screamed out and ran toward Lilo.

She knelt down in front of Lilo and put her hands on Lilo's shoulders. This was not the Lilo she saw that morning. This was not even the Lilo she saw a couple hours ago. Lilo was wearing strange gray clothes embossed with a strange and morbid looking log. She was soaking wet and cold to the touch. Her face was flushed and her eyes were red. Lilo was covered in scrapes, bruises, and some small wounds still bleeding.

Nani wrapped her arms around Lilo, breathing fast and shallow.

"My god Lilo! What happened to you?" Nani whispered.

Lilo managed to free one arm from Nani's grasp and pointed toward an object just in the center of the driveway.

"Jumba's time board?" Nani whispered.

Lilo pushed herself out of Nani's grasp.

"I tried to go back." Lilo whispered to Nani, tears just barely forming in her eyes. "I tried to go back so I could save them. I thought, if I could save them, then we could all be together again."

"Eric and Keala?" Nani asked.

Lilo nodded.

"But everything went wrong. The whole world went wrong. Stitch went wrong, even you went wrong Nani."

It was then that Lilo noticed Stitch walking up behind her carrying one of Jumba's bright yellow hand blasters. Stitch handed Lilo the blaster, and she turned back around and continued talking to Nani.

"So I had to go back again. I had to go back and let them die. I was the one on that cliff… watching them die."

Nani slowly began to shake. Her legs felt weak. But just before she fell to the ground, more words held her up.

"But it's okay now." Lilo continued. "I don't need, no, that's the wrong thing to say. I can go on just fine without them now."

"Lilo?" Nani asked. "What's that blaster for?"

Lilo didn't answer. She turned around, and pointed it at that strange engine mounted to the back of the red striped surfboard.

"Never again." Lilo whispered to herself.

Lilo pulled the trigger. A green glob shot out the barrel of her gun and hit the strange engine dead on. The engine exploded, leaving it nothing more than blackened, smoking bits scattering across the ground.

Lilo turned back around and handed the blaster to Nani.

"Pizza sounds good." Lilo said.

"Ih." Stitch added in. "Pizza good. And ice cream?"

"Sure." Nani answered. "And ice cream."

"After that, meega need long shower." Stitch added.

"And then some clean clothes." Lilo added to what Stitch had just said.

The three of them turned around and began walking back to their house.

That wasn't the end though. It would take at least a week before both Lilo and Stitch would feel good enough to do all but the most basic of tasks. Certainly things like swimming, hula class and going to the beach were out of the question for at least another week. And it wouldn't be until a month later that the two of them would be healed over completely.

Lilo's nightmares would persist for many months after that. Indeed for the first few months she couldn't sleep at all unless she was in Stitch's arms. For the rest of her life those nightmares would come back to her in occasional bouts, but most of her nights would be filed with nothing but the surreal pointlessness one would expect.

It was true, there was some part of Lilo deep inside that was forever surrounded by the horrific carnage and of war. The things she saw, felt, smelled, heard, and experienced within the Empire of the Pacific Islands would be inside her somewhere for as long as she lived.

But Lilo learned to live with it all. After the nightmares had subsided, and she began to settle back into a normal life, it wasn't long before Lilo even learned to be happy again. Though she was happy for such different reasons than she once was. She was happy because she had a roof over her head, because she had hot and cold running water, because she had clean clothes and regular supply of good food, because she had a family that truly cared about her.

It would be a bit ironic though, that it would take Lilo years to learn what might have been the single most important lesson anyone in Hawaii had ever learned. That lesson was that: the only difference between Stitch, the sweetest and most loving creature Lilo had ever known, and Emperor 626, the most sadistic, spiteful, vengeful, and barbaric thing to ever haunt her memories or her nightmares, was being shown the love of a little island girl from broken, low-income family.

But all that would be in the future, for now, as Lilo, Stitch, and Nani walked up the stairs to their house, Lilo had to get something off her chest.

"Hey Nani?" Lilo asked.

"Yeah kiddo?" Nani answered.

"You know the song 'Tequilla'?"

"From Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass?"

"I hate that song."

"Why?"

"Don't ask."

–_Fin_


End file.
